


Story Time

by fallingfromdisgrace



Series: Victims of the Night [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Allison Argent & Lydia Martin Friendship, Alpha Talia Hale, Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Architect Derek Hale, Assassin Peter, Asshole Gerard Argent, Awkward Peter, BAMF Lydia Martin, Banshee Lydia Martin, Canon-Typical Violence, Everyone Is Alive, Evil Gerard Argent, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurt Lydia, Isaac Lahey Feels, Lawyer Laura Hale, Mentioned Kate Argent, Mentioned Werewolf Attack, Multi, Not yet though, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, So much Walk The Moon, True Alpha Scott McCall, Werewolf Turning, nearly, story time, yay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 12:10:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12035613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingfromdisgrace/pseuds/fallingfromdisgrace
Summary: Two Packs joining together is never easy, but hopefully with enough pizza and Pack nights Peter can make it as painless as possible, with his Pack's help of course.Still, they have a long way to go.Also known as 'Everyone's Backstory'





	1. Drunk In The Woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DiamondLuv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiamondLuv/gifts).



> Hey, so this is the follow up to My Destiny, I would recommend reading that one first otherwise this will make absolutley no sense whatsoever. This is just more explanation of all the characters, each charater will have a chapter to themselves, those who know me know I'm the worst at posting regularly, but I have most of it planned out so I just need to write it now, I'll try to keep it regular  
> Many thanks to DiamondLuv, without who I probably would never have thought of taking the story down this route and continuing on with the series.  
> (The title is a work in progress unfortunately, hopefully something better will come to me but this is all I have for now, suggestions are welcome :) ) Chapter title is from Walk the Moon's Drunk In The Woods.  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

Peter could hear heartbeats inside his house as he pulled up by the front door. He recognised Lydia’s easily, and given how relaxed it was he could only assume she was with members of her pack inside.

It had been a few weeks since he had taken care of the Alpha Pack and Lydia spent at least half of her time around his house, they had gone on a few dates and were slowly getting to know each other. He had told her multiple times before that the house was as much hers as it was his, and she could have her pack around for meetings and just to spend to time with them. She had done it a few times and Peter had gone to the main Hale house for the night, spent some time with Derek and Stiles, also preventing them going to his and embarrassing him in front of Lydia’s pack.

He was debating heading over there straight away when the door opened and Lydia walked over to the car. He opened the car door and got out, meeting her on the steps.

“Hey, do you want to invite some of your pack around?” she asked him.

He stumbled over a step and looked at her in shocked.

“Why?”

She laughed, “Don’t look so terrified, I meant like Derek and Stiles, not Talia. My pack is here so I figured it would be nice for you to have some of yours round instead of leaving the house.”

“I don’t-” she raised an eyebrow and the sentence died in his throat, “I’ll text them now.”

Her smile was bright and she leant down, placed a kiss on his lips and said, “Good, tell them to bring food.”

She whirled around and her scent hit him, it still made him stop in his tracks and his eyes followed her as she turned and went back into the house.

He heard her talking to her pack now, and he quickly shot a text off to Derek, inviting him and Stiles around, he knew they wouldn’t miss this opportunity, so he sent another, telling them to get some pizzas on the way over from the loft.

When he finally entered the den he found that all of Lydia’s pack was there, Scott sat on the armchair with Kira in his lap, Malia was spread out over the three seater, her head was in Allison’s lap and Lydia was on the love seat.

He was about to sit down when his phone started buzzing in his pocket, the screen flashed Derek’s name so he moved to the door way and answered.

“Hello?”

Hi, Peter-”

“Are we meeting them?” Stiles was hissing in the background, talking over Derek, “Derek, ask him!”

“I would Stiles, but you’re talking over me baby,” Derek had an air of suffering about him, like Stiles had been unbearable today, but Peter could hear the affection in his tone, even if most people couldn’t.

“Oh, sorry,” Stiles sounded sheepish and then Derek seemed to turn his attention back to Peter.

“So, are we meeting Lydia’s pack?”

“Yes you are.”

As soon as he said the yes there was a scream down the phone, making Lydia’s pack snap their heads around to look at him. He bit his lip as Scott looked slightly scared at the screeching that was coming from his phone.

“Stiles- Stiles calm down.” Derek sighed, it sounded like Stiles was dancing around, “We’ll be over in a bit, how many pizzas do you want us to pick up?”

“There’s six of us here, so as many as you think we need, go to Al’s and put it on my tab.”

Derek agreed, then hung up and Peter dropped himself down next to Lydia.

“You have a tab at a pizza place?” she nudged him.

“Yeah, you know I never cook here,” she nodded but still looked disapprovingly at him out of the corner of her eye. He turned his attention to Scott instead. “How’s the application for the veterinary course going?”

Scott looked pleased that he’d remembered then said, “Good, yeah, I’m trying to get one at a place in Beacon Hills so I don’t have to travel a lot, I’m hoping for Beacon Hills Animal Clinic with Dr Deaton.”

Allison looked at Peter at that, “is that the same Deaton I saw?” he nodded, “I thought Dr Deaton was a human doctor?”

“He’s a vet mostly, but he helps out the pack when we need him,” he looked around awkwardly, looking for a subject change. He wasn’t supposed to know who the Hale Pack emissary, no one was, if it got out it could make Deaton a potential target for their enemies, and the Hale family had a lot of enemies.

Unfortunately for him Lydia seemed to catch this, “that’s vague.”

He just shrugged and Lydia’s eyes narrowed at him, he was realising that she was too observant for her own good.

Peter turned back to Scott, “Deaton is a good vet, and I can put in a good word for you if you want?”

Scott looked shocked at his generosity, obviously not realising that Peter usually went to Deaton when his intestines were hanging out or someone else was hurt, and that this would be the most enjoyable conversation he ever had with the vet.

After a few minutes he shrugged, “I’m okay thank you; I kinda wanted to do this on my own.”

He looked a bit awkward and Peter understood why, he nodded and let it go, confident that Deaton would pick Scott anyway. He knew about things like True Alphas and wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to keep him close.

There was an awkward silence before Malia coughed and Peter realised he didn’t really know anything about Lydia’s pack. Sure they were here often but he had no idea how they met or what they were interested in, Lydia was right when she said he usually left, and now, apart from something he heard Scott mention about the vet he had nothing to talk to them about.

They all seemed content to occupy the same space in silence, Allison gently playing with Malia’s hair, Malia had her eyes closed and she was breathing slowly, seeming like she was on the verge of falling asleep. Kira had her head resting on Scott’s shoulder, his hand snaking underneath her t-shirt to rest on her hip, his thumb stroking the skin there. They all had small smiles on their faces, like this was the best thing that had ever happened to them, they were all so content.

Peter turned to Lydia and noticed she had the same look on her face and suddenly it seemed like he was intruding. He stood up quickly and left, heading to the kitchen quickly. He could hear the murmuring of the pack, and then the footsteps of Lydia following him.

He grabbed a drink from the fridge and was about to continue upstairs when she caught his arm.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him.

Peter’s denial died on his lips as he looked into her eyes. There was nothing but pure concern for him and he couldn’t lie to her, couldn’t even attempt to dodge the question.

“I’m not good with people,” he sighed.

She looked at him for a few seconds, “so?”

“I just feel that I’m intruding Lydia; that is your pack, the people you are the closest to, people you grew up with, and I don’t even know the first thing about them.” She looked like she was about to interrupt but Peter cut her off, “and I know you’re going to say that I should get to know them, but I don’t know how to.”

“Well why not?”

He let out a dry laugh, “Lydia, look where I live,” he gestured out the window, “Before I met you in the club that night I hadn’t left here in four months. Most of the time I talk to people I just need information, the past decade of my life has, unfortunately, destroyed any conversational skills I had, which Talia says were questionable to begin with.”

Lydia, for some strange reason look relieved, “so you aren’t avoiding them because you don’t like them?”

He frowned, “of course not.”

She let out a breath, “well thank god for that, we all thought you kept leaving because you didn’t like them.” She beamed at him, “also, try asking questions you know? Like that’s the best way to get to know someone.”

He fiddled with the cap of the bottle he was holding, “I know, I just feel too weird, like I’m interrogating them.”

She laughed and then moved even closer to him, reaching up to rest her arms on his shoulders, “you’re so awkward and it’s adorable” Peter’s head shot up at that, no one had ever called him _adorable_ before, “but really, my friends aren’t bothered, they know what you mean to me,” she suddenly became shy at this, “they want me to be happy.”

Peter let out a long breath and wrapped his arms around her waist, “of course, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just be yourself,” she winked at him then broke his grip and walked back into the den.

He took a moment to collect himself then he followed her through the door.

He returned to his seat next to her and after about five minutes of thought he was about to ask about Allison’s interests, besides weapons, when the front door swung open.

Scott, Malia and Kira all tensed up, and Scott shot him an incredulous look, “you don’t lock your door?”

Peter laughed as he could hear Stiles and Derek walking through the kitchen, hopefully grabbing some plates and cutlery on their way, “I’m not exactly scared of burglars.”

The rest of the pack nodded, Scott just looked more confused, “because you’re out in the middle of nowhere?”

Malia was thankfully the one to correct him, “I think he’s referring to how he’s the world’s most elite killer Scott.”

“Oh,” Scott looked him over, then shrugged and sat back in his seat when he could hear the bickering in the kitchen.

It sounded like Derek was trying to make Stiles help him while Stiles was more concerned with meeting Lydia’s Pack.

_“Dammit, Stiles.”_

_“Derek.”_

_“I swear you better get back here.”_

_“But Derek.”_

Scott looked slightly worried and Peter could tell he didn’t know what was expected of him as an potential Alpha and leader of a pack now, he shifted between making moves to stand and then relaxing again, in the end he seemed to settle on remaining sat down. The most influencing factor was probably Kira’s disapproving looks as he almost toppled her off his lap.

Eventually Stiles and Derek entered the den, Stiles holding enough plates and cutlery for them, and Derek followed, almost hidden behind a tower of pizza boxes.

Stiles walked over to the coffee table and put all the plates down, and then he turned his attention to the pack.

“Oh my gosh, Derek,” he squealed, “put those down quickly, _hurry_.”

The pack watched, bemused as Stiles tried to contain his excitement. It was a novel experience for Peter too, Stiles was bouncing on the balls of his feet but still trying to act cool, Derek shot him an exasperated look, then put the pizza’s down.

“Hello,” Derek nodded at Scott, “I’m Derek and this is my soulmate Stiles.”

Stiles watched them all introduce themselves with wide eyes, and when Lydia shrugged and said, “And you’ve already met me,” he jumped forward.

He had her off the couch and into a hug in seconds; Scott did topple Kira onto the floor as he stood, immediately in a defensive stance.

Derek took a step between them, “I must apologise for him, he is very excitable when meeting new people.”

Stiles broke away from Lydia and turned to Scott, “oh I’m so sorry Scotty, can I call you Scotty? It’s all very formal in the Hale pack and we’re the only young ones.”

Both Derek and Peter shared a confused look at that, “and what about Cora and Laura?”

Stiles waved them off, “they don’t count, they never come out with us.”

“ _I_ never go out with you Stiles,” Peter said, standing and trying to direct him to a seat.

“Which is why you don’t count either,” he stuck his tongue out as Peter pushed him down into the remaining couch.

Peter shook his head fondly as he started to help Derek opening pizza boxes while Lydia handed plates out.

Once everyone was settled again, this time with Kira on the three seater with Allison and Malia, Peter said they could just help themselves. He noticed that none of the other pack waited for their Alpha, or whatever Scott was to them, to serve himself before they started taking face, and with the eyebrow quirk his nephew had sent him he didn’t miss it either.

There was nothing but the quiet noise of people eating for a while, everyone seemed content with it however, and it didn’t feel awkward to Peter. In fact, he couldn’t remember a time he had been more comfortable around a group this large.

Stiles was the first to break the silence, “so, how did you all meet?”

Scott swallowed while he looked at his pack, “we all went to school together.”

Stiles, Derek and Peter all waited for something else, maybe a bit more of their story, but Scott just nodded and started eating again. Peter decided to ask Lydia about it later if they didn’t work their way around to the topic again in the night, he could already see the curiosity burning in Stiles’ eyes and knew he wouldn’t let it drop easily.

“You seem like you’re around our age,” Malia directed this at Stiles, “which high school did you go to? Why didn’t we know you back then?”

“I was home schooled actually,” he said matter of fact, there was a time when Stiles would have been vulnerable about this, but that had passed when he met the Hale pack and really came into himself.

“Why?” Kira asked, and then seemed to rethink it, “oh I’m so sorry, you don’t have to say anything-”

“It’s okay,” he laughed, “I was pulled from school when my mom got ill, my grandfather hired a tutor so I could visit my mom and still keep on top of my studies, when she passed away I just never went back.”

They went quiet for a second and then Scott said, “I’m sorry.”

But Stiles waved it off, “it’s really okay, I mean, it doesn’t go away but it does get easier, and it’s been a long time.”

Most of the group were finished eating and Peter decided that that was a good cue to start clearing up. He stood, taking Lydia’s plate off her lap and then grabbing Derek’s and Stiles’ on his way out. He returned and started clearing everyone’s stuff away but he stopped when he heard Kira ask the question he loved, it always guaranteed good entertainment and he didn’t want to miss this.

“So Stiles, how did you and Derek meet?”

Peter abandoning his efforts and returning to the couch was enough to make Lydia look around at everyone else, “what’s up?” she asked him quietly.

“I just love this story,” he said, barely concealing his grin, Stiles’ expression was matching his now, Talia liked to call this their ‘unhinged’ looks.

Derek groaned, “can we not guys?”

“Aww, don’t you want to tell the story of how we met Sourwolf?” Stiles said, snuggling closer into Derek’s side and pulling his bambi eyes.

Derek wasn’t having it and just shot him a bitch face, “you _have_ _got_ to know that my answer will be no.”

Lydia’s pack were all sat up now, looking between the two as they argued, their curiosity clearly piqued.

Stiles ignored Derek and turned back to the room.

“Well, I was homeschooled, as you now know, and it was just me and my dad in the house, he’s the sheriff and used to work a lot of nights when mom first passed,” he frowned, “I don’t think he liked being at the house at night you know, the space my mother left was more obvious then. Anyway, when I was nineteen I took a bottle of whisky from my dad’s liquor cabinet, drove to the preserve and started to drink while I was wandering around. I didn’t have any friends back then so I was all alone in the preserve, I didn’t even think about the danger of running into anything supernatural, the Hale preserve has always been the safest place in the city and I just needed the space.

“Soon I’d finished the bottle and wandered way too far away from my car to possibly make it back so I just kept going, I must have hit the property line around oneish, and of course, the Hales _knew_.”

“Of course we knew,” Peter rolled his eyes, “you were being so loud it woke even the humans of the pack up.”

Stiles continued on like he hadn’t spoken, “and I don’t know what made them send him, but all of a sudden Derek was there.”

“They _forced_ me out of bed to deal with you,” Derek said.

“Me and Laura thought it would be a good learning experience for you,” Peter said calmly.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Stiles cut in, “when I saw this piece of man candy strutting towards me-” _“I do not strut!”_ “-I fell onto my knees because I thought he was an angel, and he yelled over to me, ‘what are you doing here? This is private property.”

Stiles held his hands out at that and the words were written there, across his palms.

“So I did the only thing a man in my situation could do,” he shrugged and sat back in his chair, seeming to leave it at that.

Lydia was the one to ask, “and what did you do?”

“Go on Der, tell them,” Stiles nudged him.

Derek looked like he was sucking on a sour sweet, “he waited until I was close enough, then reached around, grabbed my ass and said ‘Damn straight this is private property, it’s all mine’.”

The pack was silent for a whole minute.

“So Derek has-” Scott spluttered.

“Yupp,” Stiles nodded smugly.

“O _n his ass?_ ” Allison was wide eyed.

“Since birth,” Peter supplied, “we were always worried about Derek’s soulmate because of that, although we needn’t have.” He shot a small smile over to Stiles who sent a wink back in return. “Talia and I found them in the preserve the next morning, cuddled up to one another, looking a little worse for wear I might add.”

“Imagine being hungover to hell and then waking up to Alpha Hale and the Enforcer looming over you, you’d throw up too,” Stiles said defensively.

“You didn’t know who we were back then Stiles,” Peter argued.

“All I knew was that I had found my soulmate, was feeling rougher than sandpaper and two strange people were smiling creepily down at me,” he shrugged, “can you blame me?”

Most of the room let out a snort at that.

“I don’t know how anyone could be scared of Peter,” Lydia said, “Talia I understand but he’s just not intimidating, sorry,” she patted his arm at the last bit.

Scott’s pack looked at him thoughtfully whilst Derek and Stiles both had shit eating grins on their faces.

“I must admit,” Scott rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, “I see what Lydia means, no offense intended of course.”

Peter shrugged it off, “I’m not offended, most of the time my ability to blend in and not pose a threat is what keeps me alive.”

“It is kind of insane,” Malia was eyeing him up now, “that you, the guy who fusses over a messy coffee table has also killed the world’s most dangerous creatures,” then added in a smaller voice, “and the world’s best assassins.”

Peter would have defended himself at that, but the atmosphere in the room shifted slightly, becoming more cold, Lydia’s pack all looked down and away from him and given the confused look both Derek and Stiles sent him they couldn’t figure out why either.

Peter decided to give them some space and continued on with his effort to tidy the lounge, Derek and Stiles jumping up to help him. It was easy work between the three of them and soon his den was back to normal and his fridge was stocked with leftover pizza that he would undoubtedly live off for the next few days.

He could hear Lydia talking with her pack, not really saying anything important, Peter got the impression that she was just trying to break whatever ice had suddenly frozen the room and killed the conversation.

It didn’t seem to be working that well.

Scott joined the three of them in the kitchen, hovering just behind Peter as he put the plates in the dishwasher.

“It’s getting late,” he said, letting the suggestive statement hanging in the air.

“Of course,” Peter closed the dishwasher, “how many rooms will you need?”

Scott’s mouth fell open, “uhh, what?”

“I’m assuming you’ll be staying the night, I have more than enough rooms for you.”

“That’s okay, we’re fine going home.”

“Please Scott, I insist,” he smiled, “I have some spare clothes and I’m sure between the things that Talia, Laura and Cora have left here there will be enough clothes for the girls if they need any spare.”

Scott still looked unsure, “uh, I’ll ask them.”

He returned to the den and Derek and Stiles were quiet as they tried to listen to the conversation happening in the other room. Peter could hardly judge them; he was waiting with bated breath for the decision.

He could hear Lydia trying to press his case, saying that the road was too rough and dangerous to try to navigate at night, soon they were all on board, well all except Malia.

She hadn’t said a word in favour or disagreement and Peter got the feeling that she didn’t like him all that much. He didn’t want to sound paranoid but what she had said before sounded like a dig at him and what he’d done, but it had also sounded personal, as if he’d hurt her by being the Enforcer.

He could work it out, but he didn’t want to ask Lydia, just in case he was being paranoid about the whole thing. He would ask Malia herself if there were any more instances that drew his attention.

Scott returned to the kitchen, “we’ll stay if that’s still okay with you?”

“Of course it is,” Peter said, smiling, “I can show you to your rooms in just a second if you want?”

Scott nodded, “that would be good thanks, I’ll grab the others.”

Stiles and Derek looked at each other and seemed to have a conversation, just staring into each other’s eyes.

“You guys do know how rude that is don’t you? I’m stood right here,” Peter said, frustrated.

They snapped their attention back to him, both looking guilty.

“Hey, is it okay if we stay here too?” Stiles asked.

“Of course you can,” Peter said, “but you already know the way to your room so I am not showing you.”

They both laughed and then Lydia’s pack came in from the front, Lydia was in front with Scott and she walked over to Peter immediately, Peter noticed that Malia was stood at the back on the group, not really interacting with them.

They slowly made their way upstairs, Stiles and Derek still chatting to the pack but it was just small talk now, they had sensed the changed too and didn’t want to make anything worse presumably.

When they reached their bedroom they wished the pack a good night and Stiles hugged Lydia again, then he turned to the rest of the pack, “It was really nice meeting you all. If you stay tomorrow we’ll show you the house, since I’m assuming Peter hasn’t shown anyone around,” they all shook their head at this and he shot a disappointed look at Peter, “despicable. Right well, we’ll see you all tomorrow.”

They all waved as they walked into their room, when the door was closed they all moved on, only needing to turn a corner and then they reached the guest bedrooms and Peter slowly showed them into a room one by one, Scott taking one with Kira while Allison and Malia both took one each.

Lydia said good night to each of them and Peter nodded, all of them thanked him, apart from Malia, who stiffly returned his nod and then closed the door quickly. Once they were all in bed Lydia turned to him and smiled, taking his hand as they walked to the master bedroom.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” she said, nudging him encouragingly.

“It wasn’t,” he allowed, “well, not until the end at least.”

Lydia’s scent took a strange turn at that, it was like a sour tang, “you’ll have to excuse Malia, she, uh, well she’ll probably explain it soon enough. She’s just having a hard time at the moment.”

Peter nodded, “that’s fair enough.”

They reached their door in silence, both immediately stripping, Peter staying in his boxers and Lydia just slipping a light t-shirt on over her panties.

When they were in bed Peter pulled her closer and took a long drag of her scent. He was finding that the more they slept together the harder it was becoming for him to fall asleep without her in his bed.

She smiled and pressed a short kiss to his lips, then shuffled so she had her back to him. He took that invitation to slide his arm under her head and wrap both around her. She made a small happy noise at that and pushed herself back and further into his embrace.

Peter took another deep breath and let his body relax fully.

He fell asleep quite quickly like that, listening to Lydia’s quiet breaths.


	2. The Thunder Roared and You Did That Too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter!  
> I know nothing about sword fighting so please forgive any inaccuracies   
> Chapter title from Walk The Moon's Stunning, Honey (Please Stay)  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

When Peter woke he could hear movement downstairs.

It took a few moments before he could place it, with Lydia breathing deeply and her heartbeat slow and calm he could soon pick out slow steady steps and the sound of a blade slicing through the air.

He was sure it was one of his guests, but he got out of bed just in case.

He tried not to disturb Lydia, he’d woke her up early once before and had paid for it dearly, suffice to say she was _not_ a morning person. He got dressed quickly, opting for some loose lounge pants and a white vest, slipping a hoodie on over the top.

Peter followed the sound along the corridor that lead down past the kitchen and to the panic room, it sounded like it was coming from his private gym. He frowned to himself, wondering who would have gone for a wander this early in the morning to find that room.

When he slowly opened the door he could see the small frame of Kira in the workout area. She was in all black work out gear, her hair pulled back in a lose ponytail.

He usually worked out alone, but he had a clear area in the centre of all his equipment for when the pack came around to train with him. She was standing with her back to him, her body poised with a katana in perfect form.

Peter slipped in quietly and stood observing her for a few minutes, she was completely focused on her training, moving smoothly from one stance to another.

Peter was fascinated, he’d seen people training like this before, but he’d been in Japan then, and at the time he had been more focused with his personal crusade than with anything else. But now he had the chance to appreciate it he realised that it was beautiful.

He quietly moved forward, until he was stood on the edge of the area, Kira hadn’t stopped her movements, her body looking fluid as she slowly crouched low and pulled her blade back, almost as if she was about to strike.

“Good morning Kira,” Peter said, finally announcing his presence.

She let out a small surprised noise and then turned around, her arm swung arm out and Peter stepped back just in time to avoid the path of her katana.

Her eyes widened when she realised who was stood in front of her, she let her guard down and relaxed her pose.

“I’m so sorry Peter, I didn’t hear you there,” she was blushing now.

“Don’t apologise, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he smiled at her.

Kira smiled back and then looked around worriedly, “I’m so sorry for snooping by the way, I always get up early and train, I _was_ looking for the back door, but I found this room instead.”

“It’s no problem at all, I hardly ever have someone to train with, and so this room goes unused most of the time.”

She looked around once more, taking it all in, “that’s a shame, it’s a pretty sweet set up.”

“It is,” he nodded down to her katana, “do you want someone to train with?”

Kira’s eyes widened once again, he was beginning to think that this girl was surprised by everything, then she started spluttering, “wow, really? Like that would be- if you don’t mind of course.”

Peter walked over to the wall and picked up one of the wooden poles that was propped under all the other weapons. He was trained in nearly all forms of combat, he personally preferred hand to hand but he was accomplished with a wide number of weapons. He turned back to Kira and she pointed at the wall in confusion.

“Aren’t you going to pick something else?” she asked.

“I’m not the one training,” he said, slipping his hoodie off and entering the sparring area with her, quickly getting into position. “Show me what you’ve got then.”

She smiled before drawing her blade up and quickly striking. Peter managed to dodge out of the way in time, but it was a close call.

They continued sparring for half an hour, Kira’s movement were quick and smooth, like she was always anticipating his next move and Peter was sure that if he wasn’t as trained as he was he would’ve been cut into very small pieces in a short time.

They only paused when Kira brought her katana down with such force that it cut the pole cleanly in two. She drew her blade back, poised to strike again and then let out a giggle.

She relaxed her stance once more, “I’m sorry you just looked so surprised,” she continued giggling and Peter started laughing too.

They were both covered in sweat and Peter could see the way her chest was rising and falling heavily, even as it was disguised by the laughter. He threw the poles down and grabbed his hoodie.

“C’mon, I’ll get you some breakfast.”

 

*****

 

Once they were in the kitchen Peter actually looked around in the cupboards, hoping he had enough ingredients in to make pancakes.

Kira hopped up on one of the bar stools and watched as he moved around the kitchen.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

“I’m seeing if I have stuff in for pancakes,” he said, pouring her a glass of orange juice and placing it in front of her.

“Oooh, nice,” she said excitedly, he watched as she gulped down the juice and he realised she was like a human ray of sunshine, her happiness was contagious.

After a thorough search of the pantry he had found all the things he needed, and even some maple syrup and honey.

Kira chatted away to him while he made the batter, just small talk about what she’d been up to since she came out of hiding a month back. She mostly chatted about her job at a coffee shop in town, apparently it was across the road from a martial arts studio and she enjoyed talking to people after their classes.

“Why don’t you get a job there?” he asked as he whipped.

“Where?” she tilted her head to one side.

“The martial arts studio, it sounds like something you’d be good at.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, I’ve never had any official training and you’d need all kinds of references for that, I’m just not qualified enough I guess,” she shrugged.

“How did you learn all that if you’ve never had any training?” he gestured vaguely in the direction of the gym as he spoke, “you were the best I’ve ever seen by far, you put me through _my_ paces this morning.”

“My mum taught me when I was young, the rest is just instinct I think,” she frowned a little, “like I don’t think it’s because I’m a kitsune, it just comes easily to me.”

“That’s a great talent you have then,” he said before turning away to grab a frying pan, “if you ever need a reference I’ll give you one.”

“Thank you,” she smiled.

The conversation died down while he focused on making the pancakes, it was quiet in the kitchen and Peter still couldn’t hear anyone moving upstairs. He made enough pancakes for the two of them and put the rest of the batter to one side.

He watched as Kira poured syrup all over her pancakes and then started tucking in, making an appreciative noise as she did.

“Have you met many kitsunes then?” she asked in between bites.

“A few,” he said.

She looked at him, obviously wanting more information from him.

“They helped me when I took on something that was terrorising their town.”

She stopped eating, “you needed help?” he nodded, “what was it?”

He finished his bite, “a nogitsune.”

She took in a startled breath, “where was that? How did it manifest?”

At least Kira seemed to be familiar with what it was which meant he could skip the gruesome explanation.

“In Japan, it had taken a member of the Yakuza,” he paused, “or he had summoned it to rise up in the ranks, I was never sure.”

Kira nodded, “I’ve heard of people summoning them thinking that it would be a quick fix to their problems.”

“You have?”

“Yeah, my mother always told me stories while I was younger and that was one of the tales. She also told me that they were impossible to kill. How did you do it?”

“Well, it’s incredibly hard, but not impossible. I talked to a local who was a kitsune, he loaned me two of his tails. With his and his friends help I used the Oni to kill the nogitsune.”

Kira continued eating quietly, she seemed to be thinking it over and Peter was more than happy to let her process this. He’d finished his pancakes so he stood and starting washing his plate, once again seeing if anyone was awake upstairs.

“Did you give the tails back?” Kira asked quietly.

“Yes,” he said wiping his hands on a tea towel, “I couldn’t keep them, and I didn’t have any need for them.” He paused for a second, wondering if his next question would be offensive in any way, and then deciding to go ahead with it anyway. “Do you have any tails?”

She laughed, “not yet, my mother has a load though, but she is like 900 years old.”

“900?”

“Yeah, not an exaggeration, she’s told me about her life and all the things she’s done. I’m jealous of it all,” she confessed.

“How do you age? If you don’t mind me asking,” Peter asked, sitting down across from her.

She pushed her empty plate away, “we can live as long as we need, but usually we chose to stop aging when we meet our soulmates.”

He nodded slowly, “so your mother met hers when she was older?”

“Yes.”

“And you met Scott recently?”

“I met him in high school actually, my dad started teaching history and we were in the same class,” she shook her head looking serious, “it wasn’t a good time for anyone. The rest of them were, um, going through things, and I didn’t really have any idea about my history,” she took a deep breath at Peter’s questioning look, “my mother may have told me the stories but she never said they were true, and especially not that they were mostly about our family.

“The supernatural world was in the light but my mother never once told me that we were involved in that world, she never told me what I was, and just let me wonder about all the strange things that kept happening around me. It only came out when I met the rest of them. They could see what I was of course, my aura was obvious to everyone except me, but Scott didn’t tell me at first, mostly because he was trying to hide what he was himself.”

Peter frowned once more, but decided to ignore it, he’s sure he’ll hear the whole story eventually, “What strange things?”

Kira looked away awkwardly, “Just little things, bulbs sparking when I touched them, accidentally magnetising metal objects,” she looked up at smirked, “touching a live wire and absorbing the electricity instead of being killed.”

Peter let out a small laugh, “just the small things then.”

She joined in with his quiet laughter, her eyes seeming to light up.

“So you’re a Thunder Kitsune then?”

“Yes I am.” She smiled. “It’s nice talking to someone who _gets it_ you know,” she said off hand, “apart from the pack most people know about werewolves and that’s about it,” she shrugged.

“Well I think I’ve met every creature out there, I really should publish my bestiary, it would be enlightening for a lot of people.”

Kira’s eyes snapped to his, “that would be amazing, I would definitely buy it.”

“You can look at mine anytime you would like to.”

She smiled again at that and nodded.

“So did you and Scott know from the beginning that you were soulmates?”

“Not quite, we met, we never spoke directly to each other and then one day we spoke and things just fell into place.”

She smiled and looked down to the writing that was just sticking out from her short sleeves, it wrapped around her arm like a band, and Peter was pleasantly surprised to find that he no longer had that bitter feeling he usually got when people talked about their soulmates.

“What did you say?” Peter asked quietly, wanting to hear her story.

“She came up to me,” Scott interrupted, entering the kitchen and wrapping his arms around her, “and said ‘Hi, I’m Kira, but you already knew that’.”

Peter smiled at the two of them.

“And he said back ‘yes, I did know that’.”

They both smiled, then Scott turned to Peter with a serious look, “then she started waffling on about research and just _wouldn’t_ shut up.”

“Hey!”

The both started laughing and then the rest of Lydia’s pack, Stiles and Derek started filtering in, Lydia heading over to Peter and tucking herself into his side, seemingly still half asleep. The rest took seats at the breakfast bar, taking a stool each. Allison smiled at him while Malia just nodded, her face carefully blank.

Peter got the batter back out and focused on making pancakes for Lydia’s Pack, being sure to put Scott’s in front of him first and then serving the rest of the pack. While they ate Peter could see the writing across Scott’s palm.

Surprisingly it was Allison who brought it up again when they were part way through their breakfast, “did I hear you telling the famous story of how you two moped when you thought you _weren’t_ each soulmates?”

Stiles jumped on this before Peter could open his mouth, “what do you mean?”

“Well,” Allison started, “the first time Kira came over and chatted to us she talked to the group as a whole, not technically to him. So the words weren’t right, but you should have seen the way Scott’s face fell.”

Lydia laughed, “and then he was moping for days until she introduced herself officially before class one day, then it was all smiles and dimples from then on.”

“Well…” Scott said, smirking at Kira, “she didn’t smile at first, not when her dad came over straight away.”

“Oh god,” Kira groaned, “he was so embarrassing.”

“So,” Scott said, turning to the rest of the room, “we were ecstatic, we’d just found our soulmates, and then she reminds me that she had done some research for me, but couldn’t find it in her bag, then her dad comes over, drops this big stack of papers into her hands, says ‘here’s all the research you did for that boy you like’. Then she turns to me, her face was so red and she was embarrassed,” he pauses while he lets out a chuckle, “and just hands over all the papers to me.”

Kira face flushed and Peter heard a small, “well I wasn’t hiding that I _did_ like you,” under all the laughing.

They all finished their food and Peter cleared up after them, leaving the dishes on the side, he’d probably make Derek do them later.

Lydia tried to stay curled to his side as he moved, making small noises of displeasure every time she was shifted. She had made a large dent in the pancakes in front of her, but she was slowing down, taking more time to eat.

“Come on Lydia, aren’t you going to finish it? I actually cooked something for once,” he gently teased her.

“I _can’t_ ,” she moaned, wrapping her arms around her stomach as if she was in pain.

“You did give her more than you gave the rest of us Peter,” Derek pointed out.

“Yeah, like loads more,” Stiles chimed in, winking at him, “Mr ‘Protect and Provide’ over there.”

Peter flashed his eyes at Stiles who continued chuckling, “nope, I’m not afraid of you.”

Peter slowly made his way around the island, approaching Stiles with his eyes still glowing blue, he stopped laughing quickly and let out a little, “okay maybe you do a little.”

They all laughed and Stiles pointed accusingly at them, “you’re all scared too, I bet there’s no one here who isn’t.”

“I’m not,” Lydia and Kira said at the same time.

Scott frowned at his girlfriend, “you’re not?”

“Nope, he’s sweet,” she smiled at him, “he wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

He looked at her in surprise, “I have hurt many things, all much bigger than a fly.”

“Ah,” she said, stopping him and somehow sounding infinitely superior in that moment, “but you wouldn’t hurt a _fly_.”

They all stopped and stared at her while she sat there smugly, looking as though she’d proved a very important point. She stood up and then clapped her hands together, “so, what are we going to do today?”

They all started talking at once, Stiles was insisting they all stay for another day, to get a tour of the house, Lydia was groaning that she wanted to go shopping and Malia opened her mouth and spoke for the first time, stating that she wanted to go home.

Scott shot her a warning look out of the corner of his eye but she just rolled hers in response. Both Derek and Peter looked uneasy at the exchange, neither of them were used to such a display of disobedience to an Alpha. It didn’t matter to them whether he had risen yet or not it was clear Scott was the Alpha of their group and should be treated like one.

Peter bit back his disapproval and tried to focus in on the rest of the pack bickering over plans.

He didn’t know why they even bothered, with the glint in Lydia’s eyes she was either getting what she wanted the easy way, or dragging them along kicking and screaming.

Allison and Kira seemed to understand this as well, both sharing a side eye.

“I’ll go have a shower then,” Kira said, standing up, “so I’m ready to go to the mall.

Lydia sat back, looking smug.  


	3. You Don't Have It Any More, You Had It Coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the third chapter!  
> Chapter title from Walk The Moon's Iscariot  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

When they got to the mall it became clear that the dynamics of Scott’s pack were very different to the calm and controlled order of the Hale pack. None of them listened to Scott, not that he told them what to do very often. They acted like a group of friends rather than a wolf pack, in fact Peter suspected most of the passerby’s wouldn’t have clocked any of them for being a part of the supernatural community.

It was refreshing for Peter to witness; they were relaxed and dropped all pretence of trying to be on their best behaviour whilst in someone else’s territory. Kira was skipping ahead of the group, already eager to have a look in the book shops, Stiles was in deep conversation with Scott, apparently discussing their opinions on videogames they’d played as children, Derek was following them, looking slightly put out at the attention his soulmate was showing to the other ’wolf, Lydia was walking slowly by Peter’s side, seemingly satisfied that she had gotten her way, Allison was by her side, looking amused as the smugness practically radiated off Lydia, and Malia was dragging her feet at the back, giving the impression she would rather be anywhere rather than with her pack.

Peter tried his best to not take any offense at it, but the hatred he saw in her eyes whenever she glanced his way was starting to wear him down a little. He didn’t want to be the cause of a rift in Lydia’s pack and he would never ask her to choose him over them, but it was hard trying to cope with the fact that this girl refused to accept him as Lydia’s soulmate, especially as she hadn’t given him a reason why.

The finally reached the entrance and Scott slowed, moving to the side so everyone could voice their opinions on where they would go first. Kira was excitedly shifting in place, eyeing her soulmate and pointing clearly at the book shop that was only three shops away.

“It’s the first one we’ll get to,” she whined, “please!”

Scott’s smiled softened as he looked her over, and he nodded along with her, “anyone got any major complaints?”

No one spoke, apart from Malia, who let out a quiet “you _know_ I do,” which was swiftly silenced and ignored with a pointed look from their pseudo-Alpha.

It was nothing compared to the discipline Talia would have shown her own pack, whenever they were out in pubic it was always her public image that was at stake and the whole pack knew it. It was rare that anyone openly challenged her when out of the house and the single time it had happened Peter could still remember the sense of _power_ Talia had coated her voice with, forcing her packmate into submission, until they were out of the watchful eyes of the local journalists.

After all, what use was an Alpha who couldn’t even control her own pack, never mind the worldwide supernatural community.

Scott didn’t have that kind of pressure on him at the moment however, he probably would gain some attention when he rose to be Alpha, and then Talia would no doubt teach him how to settle into his role, but until then his own method of dealing with his pack was more than enough. Especially since they all seemed more than okay to just roll with what everyone else wanted most of the time.

Except Malia of course, but Peter was determined to either let her resolve whatever issues she had with him herself, or ignore her until she actually _acted_ on her problems. He didn’t want to think what would happen if she chose the latter.

The best case scenario would be her _finally_ telling him what he did wrong, the worst… the worst case scenario involved a lot of fighting and despite the fact that he knew he could beat her easily he didn’t know if he _wanted_ to.

That thought worried him more than any of the missions he’d been sent on, which was why he had avoided the group and tried to put it out of his mind. However, now with her constantly scowling over at him it was nearly impossible to ignore.

Lydia nudged him and pointedly looked between him and Malia, who was still glaring over at him.

“You okay?” she asked.

He took a deep breath and pressed his head into her hair, “yeah,” he took her hand and they followed the rest of the pack.

When they entered the bookshop Kira immediately darting over to the history and mythology section, as usual in most human bookstores they were put together, the humans not willing to see which were actually myths and which were real histories of the ‘Others’. Peter was amused to note there was a book entitled ‘The Hale Enforcer: Man or Myth’ and was half tempted to buy it. Talia would no doubt love it and insist on having a copy in the Hale library.

When he turned back to the group Lydia was already heading over to the mathematics section, Scott was still talking to Stiles, with Derek lurking behind them, and they were slowly moving over to the film and media section. Malia had stalked off to the very back of the store, out of sight of the rest of them. Which left Allison hovering awkwardly behind him, looking like she didn’t quite know what to do with herself.

He nodded his head in the direction of the rest of her pack, “books aren’t your thing?”

“No- Yes, they are, but I’ve not really got any room for any new books right now, since I’m sort of living with my dad I don’t want to clutter his place up,” she finished with a slight shrug.

 “Oh,” he had assumed the work on her place was finished when she had packed her bag and moved out of his house a couple of weeks ago, but it did make more sense for her to be living with her parents. “So you don’t want to tempt yourself?”

She nodded and laughed, “exactly.”

“That’s fair enough,” he thought for a moment, “do you want to grab a coffee then? I get the feeling Kira could be here for hours.”

Allison glanced over his shoulder; probably checking the whereabouts of her pack and a small smile was left on her face, on Peter had seen a few times before on the hunter. It was pure content and happiness.

“Yeah that sounds good, and honestly that girl would never leave if Scott didn’t drag her out when he eventually got bored.”

She turned and walked out, not bothering to interrupt the rest and tell them of their plans.

Peter followed.

They reached the small coffee shop having passed the walk with small talk but mostly a comfortable silence.

The shop was a comforting brown colour on the inside, the lights weren’t bright and it seemed to compliment the constant hum of noise that Peter assumed would only stop when the shop was closed. The smell of coffee was thick in the air, but as he moved towards the counter scents like vanilla and chocolate would hit him, only for a second and then they’d be lost to the mass of coffee.

They stood just before the counter, staring up at the large board for a few minutes, the barista hanging back until they had decided. Peter knew he’d just have a regular filter coffee but he was more than happy to wait for Allison as she scanned the board, her scent spiked with happiness as her eyes caught something and she stepped forward.

Peter let Allison order first, not really paying close attention to her order, then quickly stepped forward, tacked on his order and had paid and moved her along before she had even realised what had happened. Allison narrowed her eyes at him while the baristas busied themselves making their drinks.

“Do you do that a lot?” she asked.

He shrugged, “I very rarely leave my house, I literally have nothing to spend my money on, it’s only right I treat my friends when I go out.”

“So you always pay for your friends? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“I’ve been told I have more money that sense frequently, the Hale family is wealthy together but each individual has their own savings, their own investments. Derek could support himself and Stiles for more than one lifetime if he wanted to; everyone in my family works however, a stipulation Talia created when she took up the mantle of ‘Alpha Hale’,” he looked at her steadily, remembering it like it happened mere minutes ago, “‘we cannot be seen as lording over the rest, we must earn their trust with hard work’” he recounted, word for word.

Allison looked slightly shocked and remained quiet whilst they waited for their drinks, clearly thinking about what he had just said.

The barista put two cups in front of them, one smelt strongly of coffee whilst the other one had a more subtle scent. It was spicy and warm and Peter could swear he could smell an undertone of chilli in the drink. He picked his up, and watched as Allison raised her cup to her nose for a smell, then nodded to herself when she had confirmed it was indeed hers.

She only spoke again after she had taken a sip of her drink, “I think I would like to meet her.”

“My sister?” Peter was slightly shocked; usually people cowered whenever the Alpha was mentioned.

“Yeah,” she paused, drinking her latte, “I’ve always wanted to meet her, ever since my dad came home from his first meeting with her, all he said was that she sat opposite him, gave him no information about you or your whereabouts, no information about anything at all actually, and thanked him for his time in a way that had made him regret ever taking the position in the human council. She sounded badass to me.”

Peter laughed with her, wondering what other stories the Argent girl had heard about his family over the years. His curiosity must’ve shown in his eyes because she looked down and away, suddenly seeming shy.

“Do you want to sit a while? Like you said, Kira won’t be done for a while,” she asked him.

“Yes I’d like that,” he nodded and moved to one of the smaller round tables by the window.

“So,” Allison asked when had placed her jacket on her chair and got settled, “what were you going to ask?”

“Oh, I- uh,” usually Peter appreciated people being blunt with him but right now it just left him stuck without words, he had only spoke to the girl a few times, if you don’t count all the small talk they had shared whilst living together for a short time, and one of those were shortly after she had been traumatised and was being actively hunted. But he remembered Lydia’s words from the kitchen the day before, it had worked with Kira so hopefully it would work with Allison too. “I was just wondering what stories you had heard about my family, your dad visits often and I’m sure he tells tales of us.”

She laughs, “Of course he does, your family has been the most frustrating thing he’s ever had to deal with; your sister literally tells him _nothing_.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Talia,” he chuckled.

“I know my family hasn’t really given you any reason to trust us, but my dad just wants what’s best for both supernatural and humans alike, and you all make that very difficult you know,” she had a shine in her eyes however so he could tell she wasn’t truly annoyed, “my dad once said that your family was so hard to read and tight lipped that he had asked one of the younger girls what the soup would be for lunch and she had just glared at him and refused to answer him.”

Peter bit his lip and tried not to let a big grin spread over his face, “that sounds very much like Cora.”

Allison laughed, the humour spreading to her eyes and her dimples showing more than before, “so it actually happened then?”

Peter shrugged, “it’s more than possible, most of the family are taught not to answer any questions from outsiders, national security and all that.”

Allison laughed again and looked down. She spoke after a moment of silence had passed, “so you can’t speak about your time travelling then? Or anything that happened before that?”

Peter got the impression that this was an important question for her, she seemed really nervous for some reason and wouldn’t meet his eye.

He took his time, trying to think of the best way to phrase his answer, he wanted her to know that any questions were welcome, but some things he just _couldn’t_ talk about.

“The rule has never applied to me, partially because I have never had much contact with outsiders, I much prefer my privacy over the other Hales, the other reason is that most people would know better to try and get any information out of me,” he shrugged and let a grin cross his face and Allison seemed to take that as an invitation.

“I know you might not want to talk about but I-” she bit her bottom lip and looked away again, and then she seemed to find her resolve and looked steadily into his eyes. “I wanted to know what happened to my aunt. Kate Argent.”

“Oh right,” the tension left him, that was an easy one to answer, he’d only told Lydia he story weeks before after all. “What do you know already?”

She seemed surprised that he was going to answer her but replied quickly, “that she tried to break the law and was killed by the Enforcer.”

Peter was surprised that Kate’s story wasn’t a story told to the youngest of their family, a warning to keep to the code and not cause trouble. The Hales had their fair share of those tales, all ingrained into the pups of the pack since before they even knew what the true message was. Most of his bedtime stories were of pack members, the ones who had gone feral and needed to be stopped and tales of ones who had told the secret, way back when it still was secret.

Allison didn’t say anything at his pause; she waited patiently, taking a sip of her drink every so often.

“Well, I’m assuming you knew your grandfather was on the human council at the beginning?” She nodded. “The negotiations weren’t going well-”

“I know that bit,” she said suddenly, “neither side were budging on their stances and people were still dying, and then one of the Hales stepped forward and vowed to travel the world and out a stop to it, right? And that was you? But how was Kate involved?”

“People need to stop giving me such a selfless back story,” he chuckled, “it’s making me out to be much nobler than I was.”

“Oh? What kind of story is it then?”

“It’s a tale of revenge I’m afraid, I had snapped at one of the meetings, trying to get the humans to keep their men in line, I had listened to the drivel for days and was furious by that point. I requested that evidence would be brought to us, than, and _only_ then could a hunter kill a supernatural being.” He paused, took a deep breath and tried to relax his face from the snarl he knew it would be in. “They refused, of course. Then we all gave up and decided to resume in the morning. That night the Hale house was broken in to, a young hunter, Gerard’s daughter had taken it upon herself to end the dispute herself. She intended to burn our house down, to kill my family in their beds. I slit her throat and burned her body. When the morning came I told Gerard that all hunters were to retire immediately, he didn’t argue when I threw his daughter’s pendant across the table, much to the surprise of the rest of the Council. Then I set out on my crusade. Kate was not my first kill, but she is the reason I do what I do, I couldn’t stand the thought of any other family suffering what my family almost did.”

Allison’s hand trembled the next time she reached for her cup; she frowned at her hand and shook it off before picking it up. She took a long drink and looked at him thoughtfully, “she was always the crazy one of the family you know? Whenever she came to stay with us my dad would be worried about the time I spent with her. She didn’t train me in the same way my dad wanted me to be trained. He would want me to learn my martial arts and weapons before trying to hunt anything; she would take me to a dungeon where she already had a werewolf tied up, ready for me to learn how to kill it.”

Peter tried to stop his eyes flashing at that, looking away for a second to get his shift under control.

“My grandfather was the same, kill first and ask questions later. My dad much preferred to know what he was hunting and why. Just before everything was brought to light he broke away from the rest. Their code wasn’t being followed and he didn’t want to be a part of it anymore. He didn’t know that my grandfather was even in the Human Council until he was voted off and the rest of the members came to my dad to replace him. All he knew was that his father had been disgraced and his sister had been killed in the middle of it all. He was more than happy to retire fully, less happy to have to deal with all the politics involved in being on the council. But he’s glad he’s actually making a difference now. And as for Kate… I’m sorry for what she tried to do to your family.”

Allison seemed genuine about the apology and Peter could help but feel touched by it.

“So your father never knew about Kate?”

“I’m not sure, he would never give me the full story but I think it was to protect me, but I needed to know, so thank you.”

“No problem.”

They sat in silence for a while; Allison seemed more than happy to just sit there and wait for the others.

Peter was surprised to find that he felt the same way; he liked Allison, although it was most likely help by the fact that she was Lydia’s best friend and therefore getting along with her was a requirement. But the young girl was quiet and self assured and had an air of confidence in all scenarios, something that Peter really needed to work on himself, especially given all the social situations he’d been thrown into since meeting his soulmate.

Just thinking about Lydia had him checking his phone, it had been almost been forty five minutes since they had left them at the bookstore and they still hadn’t heard from the group.

“I’m sure they’ll message one of us when they notice we’re missing,” Allison smiled.

“You know,” he put his phone back, “I would be insulted by the fact that my soulmate hasn’t noticed I’m gone yet, but I’ve seen her when she’s focused on something before. I’m almost scared to leave her in the library, the house could burn own around her and she wouldn’t notice.”

Allison laughed at that, the long suffering laugh that came with years of knowing someone’s habits, “isn’t that the truth. You’re good for her though, you know.”

Peter looked down to try and hide his smile, glad he seemed to have Allison’s approval, which would mean the world to Lydia, “I’d hope so.”

“I know so,” Allison smiled encouragingly at him.

He was suddenly too hot and he could feel the colour in his cheeks, and given the absolutely delighted look on Allison’s face it was showing.

“Oh my god, are you _blushing?_ ” she squealed.

“What, no I- um, how did you meet Lydia anyway?” he tried to distract her but he could tell she hadn’t forgotten, god Lydia was going to tease him for _hours_ when she found out.

“It was the first day of high school, she complimented my jacket and I told her my mother used to be a buyer for a boutique, she declared us best friends and it’s been true ever since.”

“Was high school rough for you?” he tried to sound nonchalant about it but he suspected it didn’t quite work as well as he wanted it to.

“We were all going through rough patches I guess, Lydia’s powers were triggered, and Scott was bitten, we found Malia and then Kira joined us.”

Peter had heard about banshee power’s being triggered, usually they were born with them, or a traumatic event kick started the connection with the dead. Peter didn’t like the thought of Lydia going through anything like that and his hand itched to hold her again.

Allison looked him over for a minute, taking in his fidgeting.

“I’m sure Scott will tell you soon, but he’ll want to make sure Lydia’s okay with it first, he’s a good man and he will be a good Alpha. But high school was okay for me, I had found friends, and then suddenly we were a pack, we didn’t want to draw any attention to ourselves so we don’t follow the usual pack dynamics, which I’m sure you’ve noticed, but it works for us you know?”

Peter thought back to this morning, it did seem to work for them, they were all happy with it at least, “yeah I do know.”

“Do you want to head back now?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

They stood and Allison put her jacket back on as Peter threw their cups in the bin.

They were halfway back to the bookstore when a question from before came to the front of Peter’s mind again.

“Why didn’t you tell your dad about the Alpha Pack? You knew he was on the Human Council and he would’ve gotten in touch with me instantly, most of it could have been avoided.”

They slowed down and Allison’s scent was suddenly flushed with something… different, embarrassment maybe?

“I honestly didn’t want to bother him, it only seemed like a little problem at first, but it escalated, and then I wasn’t sure if he’d get in trouble for it, I knew if I told him he’d want to fight them himself and I knew what the consequence for what would be.”

“Oh.”

“And besides,” she continued, “it wasn’t like you had a hotline or anything, like we didn’t know if you would even want to get involved, never mind how to get in touch with you.”

“So you knew I was real then?”

“Of course, I never doubted it. I still remember the day my dad came back from the Hale house physically _shaking_.” They walked into the book store again and saw that everyone was in the same places they had left them in an hour ago. “He’d finally met you at last, and apparently you had wandered in, looking like a possessed homeless man, demanded your privacy and left. All the Human Council were scared shitless and agreed with whatever Talia put in front of them. The other members said you weren’t even recognisable from the young man who had stood by Talia all those years ago. There’s a difference between hearing about someone and having it shown to your face and my dad learned that that day.”

Peter laughed, “I suppose the meeting could’ve waited until I’d cleaned up a little.”

Lydia seemed to catch the end of their conversation and looked up in surprise from where she was engrossed in a book on Number Theory, “are we talking about his flair for the dramatics?”

“What else?” Allison shrugged.

“Honestly, you should’ve seen him when I first saw him in the club, he was stood up against the bar drinking, looking so _pained_ , you’re such a drama queen you know.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

Peter chuckled fondly, “you’re the only queen in this relationship I’m afraid.”

Lydia looked delighted and smiled at him before thrusting the book in her hands out at him.

“Damn straight I am, now get me this for your library. Your mathematics section is upsettingly empty and I intended to change that,” she sounded proud of herself and Peter was helpless to deny her.

He dropped a quick kiss on her cheek as he took the book from her.

He was on his way to the counter to pay when he heard Allison’s quiet, “oh god, you’re perfect for each other.”

He smiled all the way through paying and tried not to focus on Lydia’s reply, almost sounding like she was out of breath, “ _tell me about_ _it.”_


	4. In The Dark, There's a Light You'll See. And It's The Entropy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the fourth chapter! I'm hoping to get this finished before Christmas as I only have a few more chapters planned, but then again this was only mean to be a short follow up fic so what do I know amiright?  
> Chapter title is from Walk the Moon's Entropy.  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

A brief struggle later; they’d tried to drag Kira out of the bookstore, she’d moved to the sports section, where she had her nose buried in a martial arts book, Peter could see her hands already reaching out for another on the history of sword fighting, they decided that they would go for a wander around and if anyone wanted to go somewhere they would all go together.

The rest of the day passed like that, the group talking excitedly as they slowly covered every corner of the mall, going in a few clothing stores for the girls and even ending up in one gaming shop for Scott and Stiles, Lydia putting up a front of being disgruntled but even she was brought around when she saw the extensive collection of puzzle based games they had. Allison was drawn to a first person shooter game that Peter just _knew_ would end up at his house if the way Stiles had also shot it an interested look was any indication.

He already had the consoles for these games, partially because Peter owned the company that specialised in the manufacture of most of the parts, but mostly because Stiles had insisted that he needed to get them for any nights that he and Derek stayed over.

He would have to show Scott the games room when they returned to the house, he was sure that would be where he would find Lydia’s pack whenever they visited in future. Maybe Stiles would even be there, it seemed like he and Scott were well on their way to being close friends, despite only meeting the day before. Stiles had a habit of just worming his way into people’s lives, the whole Hale family were evidence of that and from the goofy look on Scott’s face he was the latest victim of this little known fact.

Stiles and Scott were debating the pros and cons of a new game in a series that they both had played and enjoyed before, the man behind the counter had joined them on the shop floor to join the conversation and to give his opinion.

Lydia was wandering around the store slowly, having finished browsing the puzzles a while ago. She was now finishing a lap of the store, no doubt on her way to stand by his side and ask that they leave. Allison was talking to Derek and Kira, a quiet conversation about a new fighting game, Malia stood only slightly behind them, listening but looking at the games on the shelves and not joining in.

Peter held his hand out a Lydia approached him and she smiled at him as she took it.

“I’m bored, can we move on?” she asked quite loudly. Not loudly enough to interrupt either of the small huddles, but loud enough that the weres’ in the group would’ve heard her easily.

Derek glanced their way and nodded to Peter, Malia also putting down a game and following them over. Scott was trying to pull Stiles over to them as well, but he was having less luck, he only stopped resisting when Derek called over to him that he could get the game later.

They were soon back to wandering aimlessly around the mall, but now they were coming to the food court, nearly back to where they started.

Allison was still talking to Derek, evidently curious about his position in the Hale pack as he could hear Derek explaining his job. Kira was holding hands with Scott as he chatted with Stiles and she occasionally chirped up, and Peter could tell that Stiles was slowly falling under Kira’s effect, her excitement was tangible and hard to resist, as he had found out this morning.

Lydia was holding his hand and swinging it slowly between them, they were bringing up the back of the group slightly, Lydia hindered by the tall heels she had decided to wear that morning. He had been worried when he first saw her outfit, but she hadn’t complained all day and the only sign she was wearing them was the slightly slower pace she was keeping, but overall Peter was impressed.

At least if there was a gala anytime soon she would comfortable for the night, he’d heard many women at the events complaining of sore feet, it grated on the brain to hear it constantly but he supposed it wouldn’t have been half as bad if he couldn’t hear it in _every_ conversation in the large halls. Enhanced hearing wasn’t on his side in those cases.

He slowed down a little as he thought about attending the galas with Lydia on his arm, would she have the same issues? Did she even have better hearing than humans?

He racked his brain trying to think of what he knew on banshees, but he was ashamed to say that his knowledge was pretty scarce. He’d never had reason to hunt one, and his only meeting with one before had been a short affair where the haggard old woman had come to greet Talia as the Alpha of the Ruling Family, which was apparently quite an honour, but she hadn’t stuck around long after.

He glanced at Lydia out of the corner of his eye, she was smiling serenely as they walked, also having slowed down to keep pace with him.

She noticed his gaze then and her eyes snapped to his, she suddenly stopped, bringing him to a halt with her. “What it is?”

“Nothing, just-” he smiled, and pressed a quick kiss to her lips, “it can wait until later, don’t worry.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and he tried to look reassuring, it seemed to work and she smiled again, “okay, but I’m holding you to that.”

They started walking again; Peter noticing that Kira had turned around and was stealing worried glances over at them, he smiled to her as they tried to catch up to the group. They were in the large entrance to the food court and Peter could already hearing Stiles moan about a sudden craving for curly fries.

 

*****

 

After they’d eaten they decided that it was time to call it a day.

Stiles and Scott exchanged numbers and promised to meet up for a videogame night sometime in the week; both seemed unaware of the way their soulmates had rolled their eyes at each other at their behaviour.

Stiles and Derek had left to go straight to the loft, the rest of the group nodding goodbyes to Derek and graciously accepting hugs from Stiles.

They followed the pair out to their car and waved them off. After that Lydia’s pack stood around, Scott and Malia practically glaring at each other, with Allison looking worriedly between them. Peter suddenly felt awkward.

“Do you still want the tour of my place? We can always do it at a later date if you’re tired?” Peter tried to sound confident as he addressed the group, but it sound uncertain to his own ears.

Malia snapped her head around and a smiled graced her lips, “we’ll have to take a rain check on that, so sorry, I’m just exhausted.”

Scott sighed loudly and Peter could tell he was about to argue but Lydia seemed to sense this too.

“Well, just say whenever you’re free and we’ll arrange something, I would be useless showing you around, I get lost more often than not myself,” she laughed and the rest of the pack took it for the exit it was.

They all laughed, murmured agreement and then said their goodbyes, Malia sending a toothy grin over her shoulder as she practically ran to her car. Peter _really_ tried not to be insulted, but it was hard when the first time Malia seemed happy with him was when he gave her an excuse to leave, one she took gladly.

Scott hung back, waving Kira on to wait in the car.

“I’m sorry about Malia,” he began but Peter cut him off.

“You don’t need to be sorry Scott, it’s not your fault after all,” he shrugged.

Lydia looked at him seriously, “it’s not yours either.”

“Now I’m not sure about that, but I’m sure it’ll sort itself out eventually.”

Scott nodded along with him, “it will, well thank you for having us Peter.”

He stuck his hand out again and Peter could see that the movement was practically alien to the boy, he really didn’t seem to know what he was doing around other were’s and would definitely benefit from Talia’s guidance, it made Peter wonder what had happened to the boy’s Alpha, surely they should’ve taught him all this?

He remembered what Allison had said before, she mentioned Scott being bitten, but not him joining a pack at all.

He was dying to ask, but that would have to wait for another time.

“It was a pleasure Scott, feel free to come around whenever you want to, and your pack too. I’m sure Stiles would be more than happy to show you around if you ever come around and I’m not home,” he could sense Lydia frowning at him a little but he tried to ignore it.

This was more for Malia than anyone else, if she didn’t want to see him then he would be willing to make himself scarce on the odd occasion, especially if it would help her get over whatever she was working through.

Scott nodded again, “I’ll pass it on.”

He nodded a goodbye to Lydia and turned around to head for his car.

Lydia grabbed his hand and practically dragged him to his car, “what was that about? You are literally _always_ at home.”

Peter tried to ignore the thrill that went through him when Lydia casually referred to his place as _home_ and focused on the question.

“It was for Malia,” he said and she seemed to understand suddenly, her shoulders dropped and her scent flooded with relief. “What did you think it was about?”

She was quiet until they reached the car and then all Peter could smell was embarrassment.

“What is it?” he insisted.

“I just… I just thought that you had an out of country ‘situation’ to deal with and you were going to leave,” her voice was quiet and she was avoiding his eyes.

“That will probably happen sometime in the future, I’m not going to lie to you, however,” he gently lifted her chin up so she would finally look in his eyes, “if it happens you can either come with me, keeping a safe distance of course, or stay at my place until I return.”

“But what if you-”

“Lydia,” he said slowly, “I _will_ come back. I’ll _always_ come back to you.”

She looked down and away, “sorry I’m just being stupid.”

“You may be many things, Lydia Martin, but I doubt you’ve ever been stupid for one moment in your life.”

She chuckled at that, her eyes darting down to look at her lips. Peter gladly took the invitation and pressed his lips to hers quickly, drawing back a few seconds after.

“Shall we go home?” he asked.

She just nodded.

 

*****

 

They got back to Peter’s house and he parked the car, they’d been quiet for most of the car ride, just listening to the radio. It hadn’t been an awkward silence, but Lydia had still seemed deep in thought for most of it and Peter didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

He opened the door for her and she seemed to startle out of her reverie.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he chuckled.

She laughed and rolled her eyes at him while getting out of the car.

Peter opened the door and Lydia slipped in past him. She kicked her heels off and groaned slightly, flexing her toes on the carpet.

He laughed, “better?”

“Much thanks.”

He busied himself with going out to the car and getting the bags from the boot, he’d have to sort out the library later, try and make a space for the maths section that Lydia wanted.

He walked into the house on autopilot, already planning where he would put it, rearranging the bookcases in his head, so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that Lydia was speaking to him.

“Peter!” she was looking at him expectantly, one eyebrow raised.

“Sorry did you say something?”

“I _said_ ,” she sounded put upon but Peter could see the humour in her eyes and knew she was only pretending, thankfully, “what did you want to say back at the mall?”

Peter shouldn’t be surprised that she had remembered, she said she would after all, but he was a tiny bit impressed and envious of her one track mind.

“Oh yeah,” he led her towards the den, putting the new books on a side table as he passed. They ended up sat on the sofa they sat at most days; Lydia’s scent was already starting to sink into the cushions. “I just realised I didn’t know much about banshees, I’ve never met one for an extended time before and my knowledge is severely lacking.”

“So you’ve never had to hunt one?” she seemed surprised.

“Not that I know of. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but your kind blend in scarily well.”

She laughed at that, “that’s true; even I didn’t know what I was without a lot of help.”

“So you weren’t born one then?” he tried to sound casual but he knew he was failing, he couldn’t help it but Allison’s words were stilling running around his head, ‘ _Lydia’s powers were triggered_ ’.

She looked him over for a moment, “no, I wasn’t. What do you already know about banshees?”

“They used to be thought of as omens of death, their screams indicating death was close for someone. But they’re just more attuned to the echoes of the veil, and they’re either born with the ability or…” he trailed off. A part of him didn’t want to say it, he didn’t want to hear what had happened to Lydia, and he doesn’t think he could take it.

“Or…?”

“Or it’s triggered. A traumatic event can kick start it.”

“Hmmm,” Lydia agreed.

She wasn't giving anything up easily and Peter was half tempted to forget all about it. But at the same time he knew he wouldn't be able to resist knowing.

“I- you don't have to answer if you don't want to of course, I just-” he cut himself off again, it was hard for him to find the right words, how could you ever find a way to ask someone you cared about what was sure to be the most traumatic event of their life? “I was wondering what happened to you?” 

Lydia sighed and looked down, “are you sure?”

“Yes.”

She nodded and moved on the couch so she wasn't facing him, her back now pressed to his side and her head tucked under his chin. It wasn’t an unfamiliar position for them, he figured it helped her to not have the pressure of holding a conversation. This way she was practically talking to no one, just an empty room. He moved his arm from where it was lying along the back of the sofa so it was hanging over shoulder and rested just on her stomach. She took a deep to steady herself and began speaking.

“It was sophomore year, I'd been friends with Allison for a while, and we didn't really know Scott back then. We were the 'popular' kids of the year and Scott was just the nerdy loner with asthma. I think Allison liked him at first; he was on the lacrosse team so we'd seen him play a few times, although he was on the bench for most of the games. But obviously their words weren't right, didn’t match at all, and he was too much of a romantic to ever try anything with someone who he knew wasn’t his soulmate.” 

Her voice was fond as she spoke about them, and Peter tried to subtly press his nose into her hair, comforting himself with her scent while it was still halfway relaxed. He could feel the unease growing in her as well, making her scent spike with sudden sharpness; it was like biting into a lemon. Just the thought of hearing her get hurt, hearing whatever was making her so worried, was putting him in a near constant state of unease.

“So we talked every so often, just random words in the corridor, asking about homework at the start of class, we weren't close or anything, just on good terms.

“So in the middle of the year we had a lacrosse game at a school that was halfway across the state, the school booked a coach for the players and some students who were willing to support the school. My mum was working there as a substitute at the time so she made sure Allison and I were chosen, it would've been a nice weekend away for us.”

The word echoed around Peter’s head.

_Would've._

He started playing with the ends of her hair, dragging his fingers through it and trying to calm his racing heart.

“We got there and the team played, we were absolutely destroyed in the match of course, but no one really cared, we all had a good time anyway. 

“I had this _smart_ idea,” she practically sneered the word, then paused and Peter could feel the tension in her body, “Allison and I would go back to the field after dark and sit and look at the stars and maybe have a drink if we could find someone to buy for us. Most of the kids had the same idea you know? Theirs involved staying in the hotel of course, but I didn't want to do that,” Peter could pick out the self loathing tone she used every now and then, he didn't interrupt her however.

“I guess Scott overheard us and either wanted to tag along or thought we were being stupid and wanted to watch out for us. He was hiding behind the stands at first, but he came out and sat with us when Allison noticed him and called him out.

“We were at the field for a while before we realised that it was the full moon, the clouds had broken and we saw it. It was the biggest moon I'd ever seen.

“We didn't even see the Alpha coming before it was suddenly on top of me,” she practically whispered the sentence, his fingers stilled.

“You were _bitten_?” He couldn’t help but gasp. He could feel his shift just under his skin, his eyes were already flashing. For the first time in years he actually fought to keep it down.

“I believe the term used on the police report was ‘mauled’” she said, sounding strangely detached now, like she talking about something that had happened to a random person, not her.

“Allison and Scott ran away of course, and I don't fault them for it, most of my stomach was torn open and I had claw marks all over my body,” her fingers idly traced over the side of her hip, the side where his hand was resting. “When it had finished with me it chased after them, it caught Scott first, bit him clean in the side before being spooked by something and running away.”

Lydia traced shapes on his forearms, dragging her nails lightly over his skin.

“Allison managed to find him and drag him back to the field, they stayed by my side until the light came up, Allison apparently had a few weapons on her and stayed awake the whole night, watching every shadow. I came around a few times and could see the tears tracks on her face. I can't even imagine how she must've been feeling, she was practically alone the whole night, constantly thinking it would come back and finish the job.”

Peter remembered the first time he’d met Allison, when they’d picked her up the morning after meeting Lydia for the first time. How it was obvious that she hadn’t slept, still holding a gun and crying, fearing the worst of her friends. He could picture a younger Allison, standing over her friends lifeless bodies in near enough the same position, in the middle of a field, constantly glancing around, anticipating an attack.

He also remembered the girl shrugging off her high school experience, he wondered if this, something that would crack even seasoned hunters, was what Allison would refer to as a ‘rough patch’?

“By the morning Scott was fully healed, skin cleared of any scars and his asthma miraculously cured, they both knew the bite had taken and he'd turned.”

“I hadn’t healed. I was barely alive, and when they got me to hospital I was apparently having near constant seizures. They managed to stabilise me enough that I woke up on my own. Allison and Scott visited me every day when they finally okayed the move to Beacon Hills Memorial, his mother is a nurse so she even let them in when visiting hours were over so I wouldn't be lonely.

“None of the doctors knew what was happening, my body was clearly rejecting the bite but I didn't have any sign of the slow death that usually follows. I was having hallucinations, coughing up black blood, but my vitals were good and I was responsive. They called it a miracle at the time. Then one night my body healed completely, all the superficial claw marks gone completely, only a very faint silvery scar on my hip was left, that was where he had bit me, and where it had cut the deepest.”

She pressed her hand to her hip again and Peter realised that he'd never noticed it. They hadn't done anything since before her pack came to visit for the first time, and he had been distracted that first time, he hadn’t looked at her properly. They hadn’t done anything like that since, but it hadn't bothered him, he wanted to get to know her more. She hadn't been bothered about it either, never asked for anything from him, so Peter had assumed that she wanted the same things. But now he thought about it she always turned away from him when changing and he'd very rarely seen her stomach bare.

He frowned, wishing he'd paid a little more attention to her body when he'd had the chance.

Lydia continued on with the story.

“The doctors raved about it being a sign, that I'd accepted the bite a little late, but would turn soon enough. They were that confident that they released me the same day.

“I now had Allison and Scott to rely on when I went back to school, none of the school knew what had happened to me, my mother wanted to keep it quiet so she'd told them all I'd had a terrible accident and that was all. Scott didn't want anyone to know about him either so he also kept quiet, our records were sealed after our parents insisted and it seemed we were safe. Even Allison agreed not to tell her parents, she knew Mr Argent wasn’t against Weres but she still didn’t want to run the risk of him forbidding her from seeing us again.

“Allison helped Scott find his anchor, chaining him down in his first few full moons, she did the same to me when I was released, but I never shifted like he did.

“Everything settled down after a while, Scott gained control and I just assumed I'd survived rejecting the bite.” 

She stopped moving and stopped speaking now, but her heart was still beating twice as fast as it should've been.

“What happened to the Alpha?” Peter asked, trying to keep his voice under control, he couldn't deny that he was thinking of going and putting it down right now if she asked outright, but he could try and hide it for the time being.

If possible Lydia's heartbeat sped up, she was suddenly nervous and Peter couldn't explain why, even if his life depended on it.

“We were in my grandmother’s lake house for the full moon, it's got a good basement and we used to chill out and watch films most of the time. But this one full moon, I just, I felt _wrong_. It was the first time since I was bitten that I thought I might turn, so I asked Allison to chain me to the wall, asked Scott to guard the door just in case I escaped.

“There was this faint buzzing in the back of my head and I couldn't shake it off, Scott and Allison paid close attention to me all night but all I had was a buzzing and a weird feeling in the back of my throat, none of the feelings that Scott had described when he was turning.

“It was getting to early morning when I started screaming, one second I was telling Allison about the choking sensation that was growing at the back of my throat and the next I was wailing. 

“It wasn't a usual scream; it was like nails on a chalkboard, a horrible scraping sound mixed in with my shrieks.”

She took a deep breath again, and weaved their fingers together, pulling him closer.

“The Alpha had followed us across the state and wanted us to join his pack I guess,” she was back to sounding clinical now, emotional detached.

“We waited until morning again, I could feel him near us, and my screams continued.

“He didn't leave after that night, he stayed out in the woods, keeping clear of the Hale preserve, and we all hoped he'd accidentally wander into your territory, but he never did.”

Peter was in shock again, he couldn't believe that this had happened practically in his backyard again, he was surprised Talia hadn't sensed the Alpha in the city, but he guessed she couldn't keep track of every Were in the world.

“One night he lured us to the school, tried to make Scott turn and kill Allison, he knew what I was, even though I didn't, and wanted me to join him, and he said it would make him invincible. I just thought he wanted me because I’d survived a werewolf bite without turning. His shift was ugly though, it was a half-man, half-wolf form, and it wasn't hard to put together that he was feral and wouldn’t stop to listen to reason. Luckily he trapped us in a chemistry classroom; I managed to make a few Molotov Cocktails. The next time he called for me I walked out to the playing field, Allison and Scott following slowly, when he appeared to take us I threw one and burned him alive.”

Lydia’s steady voice hadn't faltered once and her heartbeat, although dangerously fast, hadn't missed a beat. She was laying down the facts for him and Peter could now guess what she was worried about.

“You killed him? On your own?” He had to know.

“Yes, we only read after that if Scott had done it he might've been turned back, but he'd settled into being a werewolf by that time that he wasn't too upset.”

He’d heard that myth before, it wouldn’t have worked anyway, but he wasn’t going to tell her that right now.

“I found out what I was by doing lots of research and trying to find reliable websites that had actual information and weren’t full of lies. I didn’t want to believe I was a banshee at first, but after a while it was hard to ignore all the signs, the biggest one being how I could feel the urge to scream as when I threw the first Molotov Cocktail at the Alpha, like I could feel his fate strings being cut. It went away as soon as he died,” she shrugged.

“What did you do with the body?” He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“It was burned badly enough that we didn't have to do much, it was practically ashes when the morning came so we moved the larger pieces into the woods and buried them the day after. None of us really talked about it, but Allison was the most affected out of all us. She saw her aunt for a while,” Peter made a noise of confusion, “oh I mean like hallucinations, she wouldn't tell me what they were specifically but I got the gist… but we all slowly moved on from the nightmare.

“Kira moved into town at the beginning of the next year, and we found Malia halfway through that year.”

“You _found_ her?” He asked.

“Yeah, we... it's a long story and I'm sure she'll tell you soon enough,” she sounded certain of this at least and Peter had learned not to doubt her.

“That's fair enough then,” he hummed, muzzling into her hair and pulling her closer.

“So that's it?” She asked him, her scent souring again and body tensing, like she was expecting a blow.

“Of course,” he paused, “Lydia, I am not going to put you down because you killed a feral Alpha, despite the fact that you should've sought help through the Ruling Family you managed the situation and it was clear self defence.”

Lydia hummed but she didn't sound certain, she started fiddling with her hair and Peter tried to ignore how her heartbeat was jumping all over the place.

“I can even schedule a meeting with my sister if you want? You can confess officially and you'll be granted pardon, this is not the first time this has happened. Only rarely have I ever been needed after someone confessed of their own volition.” 

“Peter, I love you but I am _not_ telling your sister, Alpha Hale, leader of the supernatural community, how I got all my friends attacked and traumatised because I wanted to have a drink whilst underage,” she sounded amused now at least, and she started shuffling around to face him again.

Peter knew he should address the rest of the sentence, reassure her that it wasn't her fault, but he could only focus on one thing.

“You love me?” He sounded choked to his own ears.

Lydia was facing him fully now, kneeled on the sofa and slightly looking down at him.

“Of course I do,” she smiled wide.

Peter could feel his cheeks heat for the second time that day and he never wanted to hide his face as much as in that second.

“Oh my god! You're blushing! I thought Allison was kidding,” she was laughing freely now, clearly enjoying herself. “Wow, you're adorable.”

And there was that word again. 

“One of these days I'll show you how _not adorable_ I am,” he mumbled. 

Lydia just laughed more. 

Peter finally managed to silence her by dragging her down for a kiss; she went willingly, her smile still showing her amusement.

“I love you too,” he breathed against her lips.

“I know,” was all the reply he needed.


	5. And I Can't Sleep, Wolves Are Coming For Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the fifth chapter! I'm sort of splitting this one in half because it's a lot longer than I thought it would be, which is par for course at this point really. So the next chapter will follow on directly from this one, but it may be a few weeks until it's up as work is hectic right now.  
> Chapter title is from Walk the Moon's Can't Sleep (Wolves).  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

Peter found himself awake and out of bed at 8 am on a Saturday.

He was looking blearily across his kitchen at Stiles, who had been there for half an hour now and was eating toast and jam whilst complaining about the latest drama in his life.

Apparently Derek was working with Talia and Laura, on a secret project that somehow needed both of the Hale siblings who had already finished their masters in their chosen subjects, Derek had chosen architecture and Laura had wanted to be a lawyer. But simultaneously didn’t need Stiles, or Peter for that fact, to know about. He had long ago given up on all the politics of being a member of the Ruling Family. Apart from being the Enforcer he kept out of it so it wasn’t a surprise that he wouldn’t have been told about this. Stiles, on the other hand, wasn’t taking the news well.

“And he keeps saying it’s ‘confidential’ or ‘need to know’ like Derek! I _need to know_!” he whined, already settled in his usual spot on the breakfast bar. For once Lydia had got up before Peter, so she was already caffeinated and ready to comfort Stiles when it became apparent that all Peter would do was stare him in confusion. “His usual jobs are like ‘oh, design a skyscraper’ or ‘we need a new block of flats’, not ‘come work on a super secret project for your super powerful family’.”

“You know you’ll find out what it is soon enough, it won’t be anything bad, just boring politics stuff I bet,” she had hedged, her voice wavering only slightly, not enough for Stiles to pick it up anyway. “Want some more toast?”

“No I’m okay… do you really think that?” he looked vulnerable again, more like the young boy they had found out in the woods all those years ago, not the confident man he’d grown into and Peter finally caught up to what was happening in his own kitchen. Stiles wasn’t angry with his nephew, he was _worried_ about Derek.

“Of course I do, if they didn’t tell Peter it’s probably something dreadfully political and boring, you know he’s banned them from dragging him into the boring stuff. It’ll be something like new legislation, especially if they need Laura for it.”

Stiles seemed to accept this, slowly nodding as he chewed the last bite from his plate. Lydia came around the counter and curled into Peter’s side and he gladly wrapped his arms around her. Still not over her suddenly leaving him alone in the bed when Stiles had knocked.

Peter would never admit it, but he loved the morning cuddles that a sleepy Lydia provided, and he wasn’t happy that they had been taken away from him so rudely that morning.

“Aww Peter, are you a little grumpy this morning?” Stiles teased; soon back to his usual annoying self.

“He’s just annoyed he didn’t get a lie in like usual,” Lydia laughed.

“You need to get out and do more stuff, the both of you,” Stiles said with an air of certainty, “I was telling Scott that on Tuesday, you both need to have more company or actually plan days out.”

“You saw Scott this week?” Peter asked, speaking for the first time and only realising too late that his voice was still croaky from sleep.

“He came to the loft for a games night,” Stiles sounded proud of himself.

“You get on very well with him,” Peter noted.

“We're practically platonic soulmates! He's my new brother now,” he said, as if that was the end of that.

Lydia chuckled against his chest, “he feels the same way, I'm sure if we'd have met you in high school you would have been best friends.”

“But that means I would've been in your pack,” he sounded shocked, “and I only would've met Derek _now_.”

“We would've been delighted to have you in our pack, and you still would've met him,” Lydia laughed again.

“I know but I wouldn't have had as long with him,” he sounded like he had made his mind up, it was something Peter loved about Stiles, he was always sure of Derek. Even when he was trying to settle into the Hale pack, which they all knew was a difficult transition at the best of times, he still never doubted that him and Derek should be together.

“So… _do_ you have any plans for getting out and about then?” Stiles clapped his hands together and Peter felt a sense of foreboding travel through him.

“Stiles, what did you do?” 

“What? Me?” Stiles arms flailed around him, “I would never do anything Peter! The fact that you would even thi-”

“ _Stiles!_ ”

“I _may_ have told Derek to expect us for a visit today,” he looked at them innocently.

“Us? Who's ‘ _us’_?” Lydia asked, her voice muffled.

“Oh you know, me, you, Peter,” he coughed, “Scott, just us you know.”

“You invited Scott? Does he know what he's agreed to?” Peter sincerely doubted that Stiles would've warned Scott about what he was up to, but he could always hope, and _maybe_ , just maybe, if Scott was there Lydia would be more comfortable with meeting the rest of his pack. 

Peter knew Derek was working at the Hale House, he usually ran his architect business from home, taking briefs and designing the buildings in his home office was more comfortable after all. He knew Laura and Cora would be there, neither having moved out. He knew they'd both love to meet Lydia, they'd only been texting him twice a day for near enough two weeks now, it was finally the time to do it he supposed.

“He thinks we're having a day playing video games here, which will be slightly true, were only going in the afternoon.”

“Going where?” Lydia asked, “the loft?”

“Umm,” Stiles looked desperately at Peter for help, he just stared impassively at the human, “nope, were going to the Hale House.”

Lydia stood upright suddenly, her head almost catching Peter's chin as she step away. 

“I can't do that,” she said.

Peter felt his heart drop slightly, maybe today wouldn't be the day he finally introduce Lydia to the pack after all. Talia and her husband Aaron would be there today. They, along with Derek, Cora, and Laura, were the only people that mattered to him, everyone else in the pack was either distant relatives or people who had joined purely so they could work with Talia and for the Hale Family. Not really the kind of people who would think of Lydia as anything more than another potential security breach.

“That's okay,” Peter tried to not let the disappointment seep into his voice, “I'm sure you can stay here with Scott while we nip over there. It won't take long.”

“No,” she rolled her eyes at him, “I meant I can't do that without having a shower and getting cleaned up first, I'll need something a bit fancier to wear than just the stuff I've been wandering around the house in here.”

She sounded like she already had a plan half formed in her head, Peter could practically see the gears turning in her eyes. She was standing in the middle of the kitchen now. Her hair in a messy bun and her blue silk pyjama vest was pushed up at the hips where she was resting her hands on either side.

“Right, you two can meet Scott at my place and pick me up something dressier, make sure it's classy though, Scott will show you what to get I'm sure. If you have any issues call Allison. I'll stay here and have a shower and then you can all come back here and play video games while I get ready.”

Stiles was staring at her in awe and starting nodding as soon as she finished speaking, “my queen,” he said in agreement.

Peter would've laughed at him but he was sure he didn't have a leg to stand on, especially since he could see the smug look on Lydia's face when she glanced his way.

He shook his head and checked his watch, “Lydia, it’s barely half past eight, cant it wait? Surely you don’t have to get ready _now_.”

He thought it was a reasonable request; Lydia clearly had other ideas if the way she frowned at him was any indication.

“Peter, I need _time_ to get ready, I can’t just roll out of bed and prance over to meet Alpha Hale, and probably the rest of your pack,” she replied, as if he was being ridiculous.

“But you’ve met her before,” he reminded her, “and you were only wearing my shirt that time if I recall.”

“And I’ve regretted it ever since,” she said sweetly. “Now, when the rest of your pack meet me they _will not_ be seeing me with messy hair, or any of the clothes I’ve been wearing here. I _need_ to make a good impression; you cannot just present your soulmate to the pack when she looks like she’s been dragged through a hedge backwards!”

“Yeah Peter!” Stiles said breathlessly, still nodding.

Peter didn’t understand it; he always thought Lydia looked perfect, and he especially didn’t understand why he had to leave his house this early just to run an errand for her.

She smiled over to him and he could feel himself starting to cave, he knew he’d do this for her, and so did she. If it was important to her it was important to him.

She walked to Peter first, stretched onto her tip toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, then went over to Stiles and did the same to him. 

“Sounds about right,” she smirked at the dumbstruck silence that was ringing around the kitchen, “get to it boys.”

She continued on and walked out of the kitchen. 

Stiles let out a low whistle.

“I think I'm in love” he said dreamily.

Peter sent a stern look over at him, “don't even think about it.”

He quickly glanced down at the pyjamas he was still dressed in.

“I'll go and get changed quickly, and you can text Scott to meet us there,” he said.

“Of course” Stiles already had his phone in his hands, “hurry up though! You heard what my queen said, we shouldn't keep her waiting.”

Peter rolled his eyes as he left the kitchen and desperately hope that that nickname in particular wouldn't resurface when they were at the Hale House. He wasn't sure just how much teasing he could handle.

 

*****

 

Scott was stood waiting outside of Lydia’s apartment when they finally got there, Stiles bouncing along as usual. He broke into a run when he saw Scott.

“Scotty!” he shouted.

Scott had just enough time to brace himself against Stiles’ weight as he threw himself at the werewolf. He didn’t seem surprised by it at all, Peter noticed, as if he was already used to Stiles and his endless enthusiasm.

“Hey Stiles,” he looked over Stiles’ shoulder at Peter and nodded, “Peter.”

“Hello Scott, it’s good to see you again,” he held out a hand which Scott shook, reaching around Stiles as he still clung to him.

“So, what does Lydia need her dressier clothes for?” he asked smiling, most likely just trying to pass the time until Stiles released him and they could enter her place.

Peter would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited, this would be the first time he saw the inside of Lydia’s home and he was looking forward to seeing how she lived. When she had demanded that Peter take her to get some more clothes when it seemed that she wasn’t going to be living at her own place for quite some time she had insisted that he stay in the car, he’d only distract her and she had wanted to make it quick. He had agreed at the time, but it didn’t mean he had to like it.

Stiles released Scott and looked guiltily down at the floor, “she’s worried about meeting the pack,” he said hesitantly.

“What? Derek?” Scott said, looking adorably confused, “surely she’s already met him?”

“Well, yeah,” Stiles said, desperately looking to Peter for help, “and you know, Laura, Cora, Talia, her husband Aaron…”

Stiles voice got quieter and quieter as Scott’s eyes went wide with realisation.

“Oh my god, the pack.”

“Yes,” Stiles said.

“The _Hale Pack_.”

“Yes,” Peter chimed in mildly, “that would be the one.”

Scott just looked at the two of them like they had lost their minds.

“But… But I _can’t_ do _that_ ,” he moaned.

“Why not?” Stiles asked him.

“Because,” he looked at Peter with his puppy dog eyes, “it’s the _Hale_ _family_.”

“Yes Scott,” Peter sighed, “and what is my last name?”

“Uh… Hale?” Scott said in a quiet, unsure voice.

“Exactly, and am I scary and intimidating?” he was waiting for Scott to shake his head but he swallowed loudly and looked nervously at Stiles, “okay, bad example I’ll admit, but we’re just people, Derek is a Hale and he’s nothing to be afraid of is he?”

Scott scoffed and Stiles laughed along with him, “Derek is a sweetheart.”

“Exactly, all you’re doing is meeting Derek’s parents and sisters today, nothing to be scared of.”

Scott still looked unsure, but at least he didn’t look as if he was planning a sudden exit and Peter decided to let him work through it on his own.

Besides, he thought as he glanced at the door again, he had other things to think about.

Stiles nudged Scott out of his stupor and pointed at the door, “can we do this inside please Scotty boy?”

“What? Oh yeah of course,” Scott dug his keys out of his pockets, turning so he faced the door and riffled through a few before he found the right one, “sorry, got keys for all the pack’s places, I’ve never really had much use of Lydia’s… Aha!”

He held up a key and quickly unlocked the door, letting it swing open and gestured the two men through.

“Is that because you’re the Alpha?” Stiles asked, looking curiously at the key chain still swinging from the door.

“Nah, we all have each other’s keys, just in case of emergency pack meetings or if we need company,” Scott shrugged.

When Peter entered the apartment he got a pure blast of Lydia’s scent, it was so strong it stopped him dead in the doorway. Vaguely he felt Stiles and Scott push past him and go further into the apartment.

He took another deep breath and looked around. It was a good sized apartment, open plan for the most part with two doors on the furthest wall. Most of the room was used as a living area, two couches and one armchair facing a large TV, a large coffee table had magazines strewn over it, most of them looked to be about women’s fashion, with a few scientific journals mixed in.

A few side tables had a few embellishments on them, some Peter could tell were gag gifts, he sincerely doubted that Lydia would buy a howling wolf statue for her side table, or a curled up wolf plushie that was sat just next to it, it’s golden eyes staring out into the room.

Scott walked over to the far side of the room, into the kitchen area and opened the fridge. Stiles and Peter followed him over, Peter taking note of the near enough pristine white cabinets with gold accents and all the matching storage containers on the surfaces. Even the glass cutting boards were rimmed with gold. Scott handed them two sodas and took a seat at the table that was set just off to the side.

“All her stuff will be in her wardrobe, I’m not really sure what you need to get for her,” he paused and then his eyes widened almost comically, “will I need to change?”

Scott looked down at his own clothes like he’d never seen them before, then he started picking at his shirt, it looked like he was trying to smooth out a crease.

“You’ll be _fine_ ,” Stiles said, his head halfway into one of the lower cupboards, “does _everything_ in this kitchen match?”

“What?” Scott frowned over at him, his face clearing when he saw the white and gold patterned plates, Peter was frowning at a gold tipped champagne flute he’d found when he was looking for a glass. “Oh yeah, it’s Lydia.” He shrugged as if that was answer enough, which strangely enough it was.

Peter nodded, gave up on trying to find a plain glass and followed Scott’s lead and just drank from the can. After a moment of Scott still fidgeting, now trying to get the dirt off his shoes, Peter took pity on him.

“Scott, you don’t need to dress up at all, and you’re going to be fine the way you are, Lydia is doing this because she’s Lydia and _honestly_ , did anyone expect anything else?”

Scott thought it over for a second and then his puppy dog smile took over his face, “that’s so true.”

Stiles hummed an agreement, now poking his head into the freezer and Peter took it upon himself to save at least some of Lydia’s privacy by grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and drag him away.

“ _Peter!_ ” he moaned, “why do you always insist on ruining my fun?”

“Because your ‘fun’ involves violating my soulmate’s privacy.”

Stiles looked a little sheepish and stopped struggling with Peter, he allowed himself to be dumped at the table as well and Peter put his can down, “I’ll grab the clothes now, I’ll only be a second.”

He opened one of the doors and found the bedroom, the walls were soft pink and a double bed dominated the room, its headboard was cushioned and tied the bed together with the walls perfectly. The room was perfectly symmetrical, both bedside tables had the same lamp and decorations on them, Peter was almost scared to touch anything in the room just in case he messed anything up.

He moved to the door he presumed would be the wardrobe, but when he opened it he discovered a walk in wardrobe with too many clothes for Peter to even begin to sort through.

He took out his phone and dialled Allison’s number, she picked up on the third ring.

_“Peter?”_

“So I’m stood in Lydia’s wardrobe and I don’t know what to get her for a meeting with my pack.”

 _“Oh.”_ Allison sounded shocked. “Right, so what will it be like? It is a formal occasion?”

“I don’t think so,” Peter hadn’t even thought about that, “I’m not even sure Talia knows we’re going to see her to be honest.”

“ _Will_ there be a formal party for it?” she asked and Peter’s head was suddenly filled with the idea of a grand ball that as held specifically so he could show Lydia off to everyone.

“I hope so.”

“Right, better grab a few outfits just in case then,” she paused for a moment, “there should be a few cute skirts just as you walk in on the left, some are tartan patterned, take the pink one.” Peter hummed an agreement when he’d gotten it, “okay, then you’ll need the matching pink t-shirt, which should be hanging with the other block coloured shirts.”

It went quiet for a moment as Peter tried to find the one that matched perfectly, he tried to fill the silence as he looked, “do you find yourself in Lydia’s wardrobe often then?”

Allison laughed, “of course I do, it’s so well organised, and she has the cutest shoes.” It sounded like she shrugged and Peter laughed with her this time.

He told her once he’d found the correct shirt and she told him to get some other dresses just in case, she seemed to be thinking something over for a while, then she finally took a deep breath and said.

Okay, at the very far end of the wardrobe there are a few… _things_ in garment bags.”

Peter walked to them, trying to ignore how Allison had stumbled over the word, but he was still left with at least fifteen options.

“Okay.”

“You might need to have a look in a few of them but there should be a nice blue dress with golden flowers on it in one, take that one.”

Peter found a blue blazer when he opened the first, then what appeared to be a silver prom dress in the second, one was double wrapped and he assumed that was what Allison was afraid of him finding so he left it and moved onto the next which was thankfully the right one.

His arms were almost full and he knew he’d need a bag for all this stuff when he was eventually finished. He moved out o the wardrobe and rested the pile on Lydia’s dress and told Allison he was finished. He was about to thank her when he heard her laughing again.

“You’re nowhere near finished Peter,” she choked out through her giggles, “now, _shoes_.”

 

*****

 

He emerged from the bedroom an hour later, two overnight bags full of clothes, shoes and more jewellery than Peter had ever imagined.

Allison had just laughed him off the phone, wishing him luck as she did, a few minutes ago when he’d asked if he wasn’t better off just taking the whole bloody wardrobe out the door with him.

He was certain he had at least ten different outfits for her to chose from, as well as each outfit’s matching shoes and jewellery that would ‘really bring the look together’ according to Allison.

If he never saw another high heel again in his life it would be a blessing.

The boys stopped talking as he walked out and Stiles raised an eyebrow at him “finally finished?”

“Yes, no thanks to you.” He put the bags down and gestured towards the door, “are you two ready to go?”

Scott still looked nervous but he nodded all the same.

They all threw their rubbish in the trash before walking out, Peter taking one last deep breath in of Lydia’s scent before the door was shut behind them.

They decided that Scott would follow Peter in his own car with Stiles riding shotgun, mostly to make sure he didn’t flake out and leave at the last second. Peter didn’t mind driving alone, the bags in the back seat still smelled of Lydia and every so often he would catch some of the scent in his car, it wasn’t as distracting now, it was more relaxing to have while he drove.

The ride seemed short again, probably all the times he’s made the trip into town recently, he’s probably done it more times in the past months than he did in the year preceding that. He hadn’t realised how isolated he was until he had a reason to connect with people again.

He pulled into his spot in the drive and Scott followed him into the next one down, the same one he took last time, Peter realised, as if he’d already claimed it as his own for whenever he visited. Peter tried not to focus on how that made him feel.

It didn’t take long for them all to get out of the cars and for Peter to lift all Lydia’s bags out of the back.

He unlocked the door and they walked into the house, Peter turned to the boys in the foyer, his hands still full.

“Do you two want to head to the games room? I’ll take all these up to Lydia.”

They both nodded, Scott looking slightly confused, but he followed Stiles’ lead down the corridor regardless, with only a quiet, “ _games room?_ ”

He could hear Stiles launch into his usual explanation of house he had commandeered one of the rooms in the house when he’d finally realised how many were going unused, he could hear him promising to show Scott around when he was there next and then he heard the click of the games room door and he stopped eavesdropping and started up the stairs.

Lydia had just got out of the shower when he entered the bedroom; she was sat by the dresser in just a towel, running her hands through her hair, no doubt spreading all the creams she usually used.

He’d been struck dumb for ten minutes the first time she’d pull out the bag of smoothing serums, shine ointments and _split end moose_. He didn’t even know they made stuff like that for hair, he was shocked companies made anything more than just shampoo and conditioner for hair, but Lydia had shown him how wrong he had been.

That time Peter had watched her in silence while she rubbed the serum and ointment in, then brushed the moose through, sprayed heat protecting on it, he didn’t think there was anything else she could’ve done, but even after it was dry she was running yet another liquid through it and he gave up on ever understanding her hair beauty routine. It was too long to even start to keep track of.

He’d asked her about it later, she had just laughed. But later, when he had his hand buried in her soft hair he found he couldn’t complain about the time it took when the results were so good.

Peter came out of his thoughts as she started spraying her hair with the stuff that always made his nose itch. He dropped her bags on her side of the bed and sat down on it.

“I had to ring Allison, she told me to get a few outfits just in case.”

Lydia nodded and kept brushing her hair, “thank you, I’m sure I’ll find something that goes.”

“Oh no, you’ve misunderstood,” she finally gave him her full attention, “Allison talked me through several of your outfits, the clothes, the shoes, jewellery, even the _underwear_ which apparently had to be correct and matching.”

A smile broke out on Lydia’s face, “that girl is an angel.”

She stood and walked to the bed, bypassing Peter completely and heading towards her bags.

He stood, “should I leave you to it then?”

“You can stay if you want,” she said idly, looking through the selection. She found the dress in the garment bag when she started to open the second bag, apparently it had skipped her notice tucked in between the two. “Did you open all of them?” she aske casually.

“No, don’t worry I lft the one that was double wrapped.”

“Oh good,” she relaxed, “it’s nothing bad, it’s just the clothes I was attacked in, I know it’s wrong to keep them but I couldn’t throw them out, you know?”

He nodded.

“I used to think that if I kept them I could hunt down the Alpha later on, this was before he came for us, I’ve just never thrown them out even after we killed him, but I bet they only smell of my blood actually,” she laughed, “the t-shirt is practically ribbons.”

She seemed deep in thought, chewing her tongue and Peter decided to give her some time.

“I’ll go keep the boy company, come down when you’re ready and we’ll head over.”

She nodded and he stood, he’d taken three steps when there was a pointed cough from behind him.

Lydia had her eyebrows raised and when he stopped she walked over to him. She had to stretch up onto her tiptoes to kiss him, and even then he bent down slightly.

She broke the kiss off too soon, well in his opinion it was always _too soon_ , and then she headed back to the dresser, and said with a smirk, “ _now_ you can go.”

He just shook his head at her as he left.

 

*****

 

Stiles and Scott were already halfway through one of the games when he walked in the games room so he just threw himself down on the far end of the couch. They both shot quick looks his way, still trying to pay attention to what was happening on the screen.

“S’up?” Stiles said, staring at the screen now, his hands gripping the controller so hard his knuckles were white.

“She’s getting ready now, just needs to dry her hair and get dressed,” Peter replied.

Scott laughed, “ _and_ style her hair, and do her makeup, and chose an outfit out of all the ones you got her. We’re going to be here for _ages_.”

“Yeah that’s true,” Peter said as Stiles hummed in agreement.

“Do you want to play?” Stiles asked.

Pete looked at the figures on the screen and he couldn’t even tell what they were meant to be doing, this could’ve been a war game or a building game and he wouldn’t have had any idea.

“No thank you Stiles, I’m okay just sitting here.”

He ended up messing around on his phone, looking through the news and then checking his emails. Most of it was Talia sending him links to stuff she’d found on twitter, most of them just jokes. One was the conspiracy theory book about the Enforcer he’d seen earlier, the caption with that one was “I’m taking the liberty of making a shelf for your ‘biographies’ in the library; this is going to be front and centre.” He rolled his eyes at that, many people had written stories over the years ,claiming to know him and have the ‘tell all’ but so far no one had even come close to the truth.

They were funny to read when he had a few hours to pass, but Talia had kept every single one of them and insisted on officially refuting them as truth, just in case any of the authors were hurt because of the things people _thought_ they knew.

There was an explosion on the screen and Stiles swore, looking like he was about to throw his controller, then he turned an accusing eye on Scott, “you cheated! You used your werewolf powers!”

Scott just raised his eyes in confusion, “how would that even work? They don’t make me any better all.”

Stiles just narrowed his eyes, “that’s exactly what someone who was _cheating_ would say Scotty, I’m on to you!”

Scott just laughed again, now looking younger than ever, all the stress lines gone from his face and his jaw wasn’t set, “just play Stiles, maybe this time you’ll get lucky.”

Stiles gasped and started a new game and that was the end of the conversation for a while, it was just the two boys occasionally knocking into each other or taunting each other with small quips.

It was over an hour later, the boys had changed to Mario kart, a game Peter knew at least the basics of so they insisted he play with them. The hurt look that Scott sent him when he sent a blue shell to him nearly made Stiles swerve off the track he was laughing too much.

“You- You _can’t do that!_ ” He spluttered as both tiles and Peter sped past him and past the finish line.

“I think you’ll find that I can Scott,” Peter said coolly, sending a smirk his way.

He put his controller down, “you’re all cheaters, the lot of you.”

Stiles was reassuring Scott but Peter’s ears locked onto the sound of heels coming down the stairs, he stood up and grab his jacket.

“Come on, we’ll have a rematch later, I think she’s ready.”

Stiles switched the console off and put the controllers back into the drawer, pushing Scott towards the door.

She was stood in the middle of the foyer, holding a handbag and looking ready to go when they’d made it down the corridor. She was wearing the first outfit Allison had suggested, the tartan skirt and pink t-shirt. A dark purple bet held the skirt up and Peter could see just a hint of bare skin where her shirt had ridden up. She was wearing it with dark purple heels; Peter knew they matched the lines on the skirt perfectly because Allison had made him make sure of it.

Her hair was curled loosely and fell around her shoulders in waves and every so often it would catch the light and shine beautifully.

Stiles actually gasped when she turned to face them, her hair fanning out and sending a delicious hit of her scent their way.

“Beautiful,” Stiles proclaimed before Peter had the chance.

Her face seemed free of makeup; her skin looked flawless, her eyes were done in soft browns and her lips were only slightly pinker than they usually were.

She smiled as they all approached her, the closer Peter got he could see that her lips were a dusty rose colour and her eyelids and cheekbones glittered under the lights.

“Are we all ready to go?” she asked and Scott gulped.

Peter nodded, “shall we just take my car,” he held up his keys, “it’s only a few minutes away after all.”

She nodded and they all started moving towards the door, Scott hanging back slightly.

“I suppose it’s too later to back out now?” he asked, only half joking, he looked more ashamed than anything.

Lydia’s eyes fixed onto him, “damn straight it is, I’m all dressed up now and I can’t be officially presented to my soulmates’ Alpha, _or pack_ , without mine present.”

“What?” Scott’s jaw went slack again, “is that a rule?”

Peter and Stiles tried to pretend that they weren’t listening in but it was hard to be doing anything else right now so they both stood awkwardly in the doorway.

“Yes Scott, so I really need you there,” Lydia’s voice was soft.

Scott nodded, “of course Lydia, it’ll be okay.”

A beaming smile spread across her face, “I know it will be,” she held a hand out and gestured towards the door, “shall we?”

 

*****

 

The car grew quiet as they approached the Hale House, as it was known. It was more of a mansion, standing tall in a clearing in the Preserve. 

It had a paved driveway, wide with spaces to park on either side. The doorway stood grand in the centre of the house, the stone steps leading up to large double doors, they were dark brown, matching in with the many windows on the front of the house. It had a simple silhouette The brickwork was dark, but the house still looked welcoming.

He heard two quick intake of breaths and remembered that this was the first time Lydia or Scott had seen the house.

There were no fences or gates to pass through, but still it was the most secure place in the country.

Peter had made sure of that before he left on his travels. 

Nearly all of the pack were trained from a young age so they could fight and Peter had installed an alarm system that would wake them before any threats arrived at the house. It was only activated at night, and the main Hale family was in residence at the House constantly so were around the house during the day. Other members of the pack, the ones who had been recruited when Talia had taken office, had also been trained in weapons and even hand to hand combat, most of their tutors being members of the Pack and Peter himself on the very rare times he felt like testing them.

He could hear the muffled whispers as the staff heard the car approaching. They would have been expecting Stiles on his own, not Peter and two others.

He smiled as the whispers took on a slightly anxious tone, probably expecting a surprise training session. Given the times he had actually visited the house it would be either that, or a new target he had heard of on his own.

He pulled his car into his usual spot and Peter could hear the sound of heels clacking on marble as someone ran down the main corridor, most likely to tell Talia of their arrival.

Slower, quieter footsteps approached the front door, rubber soles padding across the entrance hall. The sound of fabric rustling followed it, as if whoever it was were fixing their clothes frantically.

Peter got out and walked around to open Lydia's door for her, he held a hand out and helped her out of the car, then held onto the hand as they started walking towards the door. 

The doors swung open as they reached the last step, Stiles was stood to one side of them and Scott seemed to be trying to hide in the background.

It turned out to be Isaac, one of the younger pack members they had found. Quite literally in his case, Peter and Talia had discovered him in a hollowed out tree trunk in the preserve, crying and trying to hide a black eye. 

They had taken the teen back to the house and Isaac had told them the whole story over a cup of hot chocolate, not going into much detail but Peter could smell the pain on him, could see the damaged mess his finger nails were in, and it had made his blood boil.

They couldn't do anything in their official capacity, no matter how much Peter wanted to hunt down this Mr Lahey and make him bleed.

But Talia had been weak to his angelic face and puppy dog eyes, and she couldn't help but offer for him to move into the house. He accepted and soon Talia had taken custody of him, the courts not even hesitating when the years of abuse Mr Lahey had put the boy through we're brought up. 

He'd lived with them for three years as a human before turning eighteen, and then he asked for the Bite, he said his reason was wanting to feel the pack closeness, however Peter always suspected it was more of a power imbalance. 

Whatever the reason he had turned and now ran the house, along with two other strays they picked up along the way.

Peter had started his training as soon as he moved in, He taught him the weak points on Were's and humans alike and the young boy seemed more comfortable knowing that he could defend himself if he needed to. 

Over the years all the remaining evidence he'd ever lived in that wretched house slowly went away, and when Mr Lahey had died he had sold the house, and now, apart from the occasional panic attacks, nobody could ever guess at what has happened to him. 

Peter was glad of it.

Especially when he opened the door, bitch face already in place, until his eyes locked on to Peter and Lydia's joined hands.

It seemed to shock him enough that he forgot to move out of their way, he stood there staring while they all waited on the doorway. His eyes darted between Scott and Lydia's faces and Peter could see some recognition cross over it, but he still didn't move.

Stiles was the first to grow impatient.

“Isaac! Come on kid let us in!” He pushed past the boy and it brought him out of his thoughts.

“Sorry about that Mr Hale,” he stepped to the side, “would you and your guests like to follow me?” Then he shot Stiles an amused look out of the corner of his eye, “and don't call me kid Stiles, I'm only a few years younger than you.”

“Still a kid,” Stiles laughed.

The entered the entrance hall and Lydia's heels clicked on the marble floor, keeping a steady pace as Peter led her towards the stairs, still holding her hand.

Isaac rushed to catch up to them when he'd closed the doors, he stood just before them, blocking the stairs slightly, but not in a threatening way, “and whom should I tell President Hale is visiting?” He shot a nervous glance towards Lydia and Scott.

Surprisingly it was Lydia who replied first, “Now, Isaac Lahey, don't tell me you've forgotten about me already?” She said with a laugh and a flirty tone that had Peter tightening his hand around hers. 

Lydia patted him on the upper arm and shushed him, “ _behave,_ ” she hissed, then directed her attention back to the boy in front of her, “me and Isaac go _way_ back.”

She giggled again and Peter had images of the two of them flash through his mind and he could feel his shift bubbling just below the surface. He'd never pictured himself as a jealous man but right now he wanted nothing other than to rip Isaac's innocent little face off. He tried to keep his face neutral and pretend that the thought that Isaac had been with his soulmate wasn't bothering him.

Isaac's face suddenly turned up in a small private smile, “of course Lydia, what was it? My freshman year?”

“I believe so,” she hummed in agreement.

They stood staring at each other for a few moments and Peter could feel his impatience growing, but all he could sense off Scott and Stiles was amusement.

“So, now that we've established that you know Lydia and Scott can we please go to meet my sister?” He said through gritted teeth and he only felt a little bad when he saw Isaac's eyes widen at him.

“Of course Mr Hale.” He nodded and turned to go up the stairs.

“Did you ever get a bike with an engine?” Lydia called out to him and Peter saw Issac shoulders shake slightly.

“I never did no,” he said around a laugh.

Stiles tapped Lydia's arm and knocked Peter in the process, “what's that?” He asked, finally growing tired on the game.

“Well, you see,” she started, “we went to high school together and on the first day of his freshman year Isaac asked me out. He was very sweet about it, but I was a junior and wasn't interested in dating anyone at that time,” she shrugged and Peter remembered what was happening to her at that time in her life.

“So she decided to let me down easy,” Isaac called from the top of the stairs, “and told me to ask again when the bike I rode to school had an engine instead of a chain.”

Stiles laughed at that and nearly walked into Peter's back as he stopped on the stairs.

“So nothing... happened between you two?” He asked slowly.

“Apart from some humiliation on my part, nothing at all,” Isaac confirmed from the top of the stairs and he suddenly got an amused look on his face, one Lydia was also sporting.

He rolled his eyes and started going up the stairs at double the pace, hissing out “children” as he did.

They were walking down the main corridor when Scott spoke for the first time, “so Isaac, are you living out here now?” He was hesitant and Peter knew instantly he had at least an idea of what Isaac had been through.

“Yeah, the Hales took me in in sophomore year; I joined the pack properly when I was eighteen.”

Scott nodded and Peter shook his head at Isaac, “you were always part of the pack, wolf or not.”

Isaac rolled his eyes, they'd all had this argument too many times to even bother starting it up again.

Lydia's heels were the only noise in the hallway as they wandered on, and soon enough they were stood outside of the large double doors that led to Talia's office.

Scott and Lydia seemed to steel themselves as Isaac pushed both the doors open, introducing them as he did.

“President Hale, Mr Hale, Mr Stilinski, Miss Martin and Mr McCall are here to see you.”

Talia’s chair was facing away from them, so she was still hidden from view; he knew she liked to make an entrance nearly as much as he did.

“Technically you should have said Mr McCall's name before Miss Martin's Isaac, he is the highest ranking of the new guests,” she said gently, seeming distracted.

Isaac frowned at Scott and Peter could see him subtly try to scent the air around him, trying to find a hint of Alpha on him,

“I'm sorry President Hale.”

The chair swung around and Talia stood up behind her desk, she was wearing a plain black fitted work dress with a small red belt around her waist. It was unusual to see her in anything but her lounge clothes, or even to see her in clothes at all, these days, unless she was outside of the house or in meetings.

“Don't be silly Isaac,” her eyes landed on him and they were soft, “you had no reason to know. That will be all.”

Isaac nodded and walked out, closing the door behind himself.

Talia turned her attention to the two newcomers in the room and Peter could feel Scott's nervousness through the air.

When it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything Lydia stepped forward, releasing Peter's hand and holding it out to Talia, “it's good to see you again President Hale.”

There was a beat of silence then Talia's face broke out into a smile, “please call me Talia,” she walked around the desk and knocked Lydia's hand away, immediately pulling her into a hug, “we're all family now.”

Lydia hugged her back and Stiles laughed, “hey Mrs H, where abouts is Derek? I'll just go and grab him.” It looked as though he was about to leave her office when she turned her attention to him.

“Not on your life Stiles,” she pulled him into a hug as well, “I can't have you wandering around when I've got your soulmate working on a project that needs to be kept a secret for just a little while longer.”

Stiles groaned and accepted the hug, “you never let me have any fun.” 

“Your idea of 'fun' has given me more grey hairs than I'm willing to admit,” she laughed.

Then she released Stiles and her attention was on Scott.

“Mr McCall, it's a pleasure,” she held out her hand and Scott took it hesitantly.

“It's an honour Alpha Hale,” he replied solemnly. Peter for the feeling that he'd seen something along those lines on the internet and just parroted it now, the feeling was there but the words didn't really sound like him at all.

“I can feel it you know,” Talia said, still holding onto his hand, “your potential is there, just under the surface. When the time comes I will be more than happy to assist in the change in any way I can.” She finished with a smile and Scott's shoulders relaxed.

“Thank you, I'm never sure what I should do, even now,” he admittedly, smiling goofily.

“Really?” Talia released his hand and stepped back, her eyes assessing him, “did you not learn anything from your own Alpha?”

Scott's eyes widened and Lydia jumped in, “our Alpha was a feral beast, he wasn't any kind of leader I'm afraid.”

Talia looked at them sadly and nodded, “unfortunately such is the way sometimes. What happened to him?”

Lydia hesitated, then looked Talia in the eyes, “I killed him when he threatened my friends.”

Talia looked Lydia over, “you seem to have made a habit out of killing Alphas.”

Lydia smiled back, not a hint of worry on her face, “only the ones that need it Talia.”

Talia let out a short laugh and then her eyes roamed over Lydia again, “yes, you and Peter were made for each other.”

Lydia flushed at that and Peter could hear her heart skip a beat, but Talia pretended as though she didn't and turned back to Scott.

“I can teach you a few things about being an Alpha if you would like? Perhaps it will trigger the True Alpha in you?”

Scott's jaw went slack and he looked in shock, he recovered after a short time and nodded gratefully.

“Excellent,” Talia said, “now I believe dinner will almost be ready, if you'd like to follow me to the dining room,” she shot a stern look at Stiles when it looked like he was going to interrupt, “and I'm _sure_ Derek will have made it down by that time as well, so there will be _no need_ to go and get him Stiles.”

Stiles let out a long sigh.

“ _Spoilsport_.”

 


	6. Keeping Secrets Don't Matter To Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the sixth chapter! I dont have epilepsy or know anyone who does so if there are any mistakes regarding it please let me know so i can change it, im just going off what google has told me right now and dont want to offend/hurt anyone by it, thanks!  
> Chapter title is from Walk the Moon's Can't Sleep (Wolves).  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

The group was quiet as they walked down the corridor, it seemed like Lydia was trying to take in every detail of the house and Scott was just staring ahead, his face blank but his eyes were darting to Talia every so often.

She was leading the way, Peter on her left and Lydia next to him, Scott had taken her right side and Stiles was by his side.

They descended the stairs and found Isaac and Erica waiting for them at the bottom. 

Erica was the other beta who ran the house with Isaac, she was scarily good at her job and had micromanaging the Hale Family down to a fine art.

She was wearing her usual tall stilettos and tight jeans, but today she had gone for a red blouse instead of her usual black.

Her eyes lit up when they landed on Scott and then narrowed again in curiosity when they reached Lydia, focusing on how close she was stood to Peter. 

He knew Erica had gone to the same high school as Isaac so she presumably knew Lydia and Scott already, but Peter didn't know if they had been friends, Peter hoped they had been. Erica was not a fan of the ‘forgive and forget’ way of life that Isaac held onto.

Peter had the strange urge to step in front of Lydia as Erica started to grin evilly and tried to ignore it as best as he could, but when Erica's smiled widened and showed teeth Peter couldn't help it.

He stepped to the side slightly and he heard Lydia's step falter, she reached forward and grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

Talia stopped when she reached them.

“President Hale, Derek, Laura, and Cora are already waiting for you in the dining room,” Isaac nodded to her, and then shot a warning look at Erica out of the corner of her eye.

“And my husband?” Talia asked.

Peter wanted to laugh, Aaron would be tied to his computer until Talia went to his study and got him herself; it was the one thing even Erica hadn't been successful with in her time at the house. 

Erica looked ashamed now, “he's in his study President Hale, still writing I'm afraid.”

Talia laughed, “of course he is,” she looked at Erica, “don't worry about it dear, can you take the guests to the dining room and I will be down shortly.”

She sent an apologetic look towards Lydia and Scott as she passed, heading back up the stairs.

Erica's grin widened again, “it will be my pleasure.” She held a hand out and gestured in the direction of the dining room, “if you'd like to follow me.”

They fell into step behind her, Peter sensing the awkwardness that was rising from Scott and Lydia and half wanted to tell her not to bother and that they'd be fine finding it on their own.

Stiles was fidgeting, he was twisting his hands in front of him and Peter was half expecting him to break out into a run at any moment.

But then Lydia spoke up.

“How have you been Erica?” Lydia asked gently.

Erica seemed actually shocked by her question, but recovered quickly as she always did, she slowed down slightly as she answered however, “I've been good thank you, and you?”

“Oh you know,” Lydia said, an amused lilt to her voice, “the same old.”

Erica laughed, “angry Alpha's beating down your door again then?”

Her voice was light but Peter could tell she was fishing for information.

“Something like that,” Lydia agreed, “I'm guessing the Bite helped your epilepsy?”

“It did,” Erica turned her head and smiled wide, “I haven't had a seizure in a few years now.”

“That's good,” Scott said encouragingly, speaking to her for the first time.

Peter noticed the awkwardness had faded slightly but there was still some lingering tension.

“So, how did you all know each other in high school?” Stiles asked and Peter was glad someone had said it, even if he knew Stiles was only half paying attention.

“Oh I was in Isaac's year so I didn't really know them at all,” Erica said, but her heart skipped a beat and Peter couldn't let the lie slide.

“Lie,” he said idly, wanting to know the truth. He knew what Erica had gone through in high and needed to know if Scott and Lydia had been a part of it.

Erica shot him a dirty look and he was almost impressed with the heat it held.

“Well, I was in the hospital when Lydia was brought in for the attack,” she said bluntly.

Stiles stopped dead in the doorway to the dining room, his body finally stopped twitching and the impatience seemed to leave him completely.

“Attack?” He asked, sounding heartbroken. 

He walked straight over to Derek when he moved again and was soon tucked under Derek's arm, looking at Lydia with wide, worried eyes.

Lydia purses her lips and glared at Peter, “yes, Stiles,” she looked around the room and Peter could see the confused looks in Derek, Laura, and Cora's eyes.

She sighed, “I, uh...” she took a deep breath, “I was attacked and bitten by an Alpha in my sophomore year, I was in the hospital for a while but survived, it was the same attack where Scott was turned.”

“So why didn't you turn?” Cora asked bluntly and Peter wanted to roll his eyes at her, but he couldn't fault her curiosity.

“I did, sort of, I'm a banshee.”

They all looked at her as if she was going to continue but she just looked at Erica.

“Erica and I were in rooms next to each other and we talked for a bit when I finally woke up.”

The other Hales looked slightly confused, but Peter could tell they were putting it on for show, there was no way they hadn't been listening in to their conversation, and with the amused look Lydia shot them all she was sure of this too.

“So you didn't know each other in high school?” Peter asked, trying to seem casual about it.

“Oh no, we did. They were my guardian angels,” Erica laughed.

The confused looks were real now and Peter could feel one forming on his own face.

Scott was the one who spoke up first, “I was in the gym one night and watched her take on the rock wall, it was impressive, she got all the way to the top but had a seizure in the last second, I managed to catch her and took her to my mom at the hospital.” He shrugged as if it was nothing.

“Another time we were all in detention in the library once and Erica had a seizure, I got her into the recovery position and we waited with her until the ambulance arrived,” Lydia smiled at her, “she was the cutest little freshman and I could definitely see a younger me in her.”

Erica laughed, “I remember that, Scott crushed Jackson's phone because he was trying to film me.”

Lydia rolled her eyes, “he was an idiot anyway.” 

They all grinned at each other for a moment and then Erica's smile faded and she seemed to realise where she was.

“Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce you,” she turned to the three Hales already stood in the room and opened her mouth but Peter cut her off before she could start.

“I've got this if you don't mind Erica.”

She nodded and stepped back.

“Laura, Cora, this is my soulmate Lydia and her Alpha Scott, Lydia and Scott, these young ladies are Laura and Cora, my nieces,” he pointed to each of them in turn. Laura smiled when he said her name and Cora just tilted her head to one side.

Laura was the first to step forward, heading towards Scott first. She held her hand out as she approached him, “it's nice to meet you.”

Scott's eyes widened a little bit but he recovered well, “yes, it's good to meet you too.”

Laura shook his hand and laughed, “aww, you're like a little puppy dog,” she cooed.

Then she moved onto Lydia, shaking her hand as well.

“Lydia,” she said, with a straight face and Peter could see that her eyes were assessing her.

“Laura,” Lydia said with a smile, raising an eyebrow in challenge, Peter could practically hear Lydia's voice in his head, asking if Laura was satisfied with what she saw.

Laura smiled and pulled Lydia into a hug, “it's _so_ good to meet you.”

“It's great to meet you too.”

Laura released her and stepped back and her eyes roamed over the two again. She was smiling and it didn't seem like she was going to stop anytime soon. She turned to Cora and nodded her head towards the two.

“ _C'mon Cora_ _,_ ” she hissed.

Cora just nodded at them and didn't move from where she was stood and Peter wanted to roll his eyes at her.

“Hey guys,” Derek said.

Both Scott and Lydia moved forward to greet him but were interrupted by Talia entering, dragging her husband behind her. 

Aaron was at least a head taller, with dark hair and a strong jaw like Derek; he was a quiet man and spent most of his time ether in work or in his study writing. He was an editor for the Beacon Hills paper and wrote online articles for a website that was full of supernatural news.

He seemed surprised as he walked in, his eyes looking at the guests curiously and then darting to Peter in surprise.

“Is this them?” He asked, seemingly to no one.

“ _Yes_ ,” Talia replied, sounding like her usual put upon self, “and you would know that if you came down when Erica told you to.”

He smiled and looked at Erica, “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay Mr Hale,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder, “I've long since accepted that you're not as easy to manage as your kids.”

Talia laughed at that, “isn't _that_ the truth. Right, this is Scott McCall and Lydia Martin, Peter's soulmate and her Alpha.”

Aaron sized up Scott and reached a hand out, “it's good to meet you son.”

“Thank you Sir, it's a pleasure meeting you too.”

He smiled; seeming satisfied with Scott's response and then looked at Lydia.

“And you must be the great Lydia Martin; you've been the talk of the house for weeks now.”

Peter could see Lydia's eyes widen a little in shock but she recovered quickly, “well, I'll try to live up to the hype.”

“I'm sure you will,” Aaron smiled softly, and then turned to Erica, “would you let Boyd know that we're ready to eat please.”

“Of course.”

As soon as she left Scott turned to Aaron, “Vernon Boyd?”

All the Hales looked surprised, but it was Cora who spoke up first, “call him that to his face if you _dare.”_ They all laughed, _“_ you know Boyd?”

“Yeah,” Scott said, “he was a couple of years younger than us in school and he mostly sat alone but he was always nice whenever we spoke.”

They all took their seats at the table, Peter steering Lydia and Scott to the seats that were unclaimed, and Lydia looked at Scott with narrowed eyes, “wasn't Boyd the one who got you the keys to the ice rink? So you could take Kira on a date?”

Scott nodded and Talia looked at the two curiously, “did I hear that you two knew Isaac and Erica as well?”

They nodded.

“Fabulous,” she turned to Isaac, “can you help Erica bring the food in here and grab Boyd as well, you'll all be joining us for dinner.”

Isaac looked a little alarmed and Peter couldn't blame him, it had been years since all the Hale family ate together instead of just running to the kitchen and grabbing food when they wanted it, and now with guests they were going to be even worse than before. Not that Peter though they were bad per say, they were all just argumentative and unless some food was thrown and a plate was broken it wasn't _really_ a Hale family dinner. 

Isaac left after finally managing to get out an agreement; Peter could hear him practically sprinting down the hall.

Talia, now sat at the head of the table, let out a deep breath and looked down at the table.

Peter was sat on her left, as always, with Lydia by his side and Scott next to her. Aaron was on her right, with Laura and Cora next, then Derek and Stiles, leaving three seats on Scott's left for Isaac, Erica, and Boyd.

The three walked in then, Erica leading, looking smug and only carrying a pile of plates. Both the boys had two trays each, all full of food which they quickly spread out on the table. Boyd nodded at Scott and Lydia in greeting but didn't say anything.

From what Peter could see Boyd had really outdone himself, there was a plate that was piled high with slices of roast beef, a massive dish full of mashed potatoes, and another with roasted potatoes. The rest were filled to the brim with vegetables, all sending off different mouth-watering scents and it suddenly occurred to Peter how long it had been since he'd had a proper home cooked meal.

Once the three had taken their seats everyone looked to Talia as picked up the plate and served herself, and then she passed it to Peter who automatically passed it to Scott. 

He looked confused for a second but then Peter heard Lydia whisper to him gently, “Alpha's serve themselves first Scott.”

He nodded and took a slice of beef, then looked at the table in confusion before passing it back to Peter. 

Peter could see the curiosity growing in Laura and Cora as they watched them interact. It was anything but the formal pack rules they went by.

He grabbed some beef before passing it back to Lydia. He knew it wasn't the traditional order but she was his soulmate so he figured they'd allow him some leeway.

It was soon passed onto Aaron and went around the table until it reached Scott again, and by that time Talia had managed to grab some potatoes and vegetables. Scott had done the same after an encouraging smile from Lydia. 

The rest of the pack slowly fell into place, there was a quiet murmur as they asked for the food they wanted, or laughed at their pack mates. 

Peter could feel the smirks coming from the opposite side of the table every time he grabbed some food for Lydia and he didn't miss the way she would raise her eyebrow at him when he passed her yet _another_ dish.

Soon they all had full plates and Talia started eating, Scott following after a moment and then they all started eating.

Peter forgot how good Boyd's cooking was and decided he wouldn't deprive himself of his food for so long again, even if he just called in for a sandwich every now and then.

There was a silence for a few minutes while everyone ate, Stiles was fidgeting in his seat, shooting suspicious looks down at Talia and Laura and Peter could see Derek's jaw clenching slightly. 

Erica suddenly gasped, “I _knew_ I forgot something,” she jumped up and ran out of the room and down the corridor.

Her heels clacked on the floor all the way to the kitchen and Peter could hear her opening the fridge and then the clink of glasses. 

All the Hales were smirking at each other as they heard her cursing as she hurried back down the corridor. 

She had a large stack of glasses half braced against her body when she returned, her free hand was carrying a large jug of water.

They all giggled as she put all the glasses down, “not a word,” she said cheerfully.

The silence fell over the table as the jug was passed around and glasses filled.

Surprisingly it was Cora who broke it first.

“You don't seem familiar with pack dynamics Scott.”

It was a statement but came across as a question, especially given the way she stared at Scott, clearly waiting for an answer.

It was one of her favourite interrogation techniques because it always left the option for her to be dismissive at the end. There was nothing quite like watching her pry someone's life story out of them, only for her to say a quick 'I didn't ask' when they'd finished and Peter loved her for it. 

Scott just swallowed nervously, “uh, we just do things a little differently in my pack I guess.”

“How do you do things in your pack Scott?” Laura asked, smiling over at him.

“We don't really have any rules for things like this,” he frowned at the table and Peter could tell it was difficult for him to explain how they were all equals without it sounding like he was snubbing their dynamics. “We just eat at the same time and don't think twice about it.”

Laura nodded thoughtfully, “but surely your Alpha used to eat meals like this?”

“I don't know actually, he was feral when he bit me,” Scott just shrugged and Laura nodded in understanding.

Peter could see that Laura was about to ask another question but Stiles cut in just before she could get the words out.

“Isn't that fascinating Laura,” he agreed quickly, “but how have _you_ been recently?”

Everyone looked at him suspiciously and Peter could see Laura turn to look down the table at him.

“I've been okay thank you Stiles,” she laughed and turned back to Scott, clearly wanting to continue their conversation, but Stiles talked over her again.

“That's good,” he waited for a pause again and looked down at the table, trying and failing to be casual, “ _so_... what have you been up to recently?”

He was looking up innocently as he finished his question and Talia growled.

“Oh for god’s sake Stiles,” she said exasperatedly, “you'll find out what Derek's been doing for me in less than a week, _stop prying_.”

“ _I can't help it,_ ” he whined, “I just _need_ to know; we never keep secrets from each other.”

“Stiles,” Derek interrupted, his voice steady, “it's not a secret, I'm just not allowed to share classified information from my work with you.”

“Derek's doing me a favour Stiles, and so is Laura, but I really only need this to be a secret for another week, while we get all the kinks straightened out, so to speak,” Talia explained gently.

Stiles slumped in his seat and moved some of his food around his plate, “I know, I just don't like not knowing.”

There was an awkward silence and no one seemed to know what to say to him, then Aaron spoke up.

“If it makes you feel any better Stiles I didn't even know they were up to anything at all.”

Stiles looked up and grinned at him, “of course you didn't.”

Derek let out a relieved breath and nudged Stiles, shooting out a quick ' _brat_ ' out of the corner of his mouth.

Talia smiled, relieved that Stiles was appeased for the time being and looked down the table at Boyd.

“This is all delicious by the way, thank you Boyd.”

He nodded at her and Scott looked down the table at him.

“Do all of you live out here now?” He asked the trio.

Erica nodded, “yeah, Isaac brought us along one day and Talia decided we were the cutest, it just seemed right to get the bite and join the pack when we were eighteen.”

Talia laughed, “it meant I could get rid of the useless men who were running the house and finally get Erica in charge. I don't think I've missed a single meeting since.”

Erica grinned under her praise.

Aaron smiled down the table as well, “and since Boyd was a package deal we got a great chef out of it as well, it was ideal.”

Scott grinned at Boyd now, “package deal?”

“Yes,” he said, speaking for the first time, he held out his arm and Scott could see the writing there.

Peter could see Lydia's eyes soften, “I'm so happy for you two, how did it happen?”

Erica smiled shyly, “it was after school in junior year, I had a really bad seizure and he was the only one around to call for help. He was shouting my name and got me into a recovery position.” She lifted the sleeve of her blouse up and revealed the writing on her arm. It was wrapped around her bicep at the top, where Peter had always assumed Boyd had grabbed onto her as she fell. It read ‘Hey! Erica! Erica!’ “Obviously I couldn't speak, was barely making any noise but I remember that he sat with me in the ambulance and was there when I woke up in the hospital.”

Boyd shrugged, “I wasn't going to leave you.”

She smiled at him, meeting his eyes, “I know.”

Boyd looked away and at Scott, “she said ‘You stayed’ and I realised what had happened, obviously I had to check when she was better but we've been together since.”

Lydia smiled, “you two are too cute.”

Talia swallowed around a large mouthful and laughed, “that's what I said when I met them.”

Aaron patted her arm, “yes dear but Lydia probably isn't planning on adopting them.”

“Oh no,” Lydia agreed, laughing along with Aaron and flicking her hair over her shoulder and Peter was transfixed on the shine for a moment. “I do enough babysitting with my own pack.”

Scott look vaguely hurt at that but Lydia patted his forearm before he could complain.

“Are you still hanging around with Allison and Kira then?” Erica asked.

Lydia nodded, “and Malia.”

Isaac frowned down at her, “who?”

“Malia Tate? Petite with brunette hair, she joined our school in my junior year,” Lydia stated.

Peter frowned at her, Malia's last name was familiar to him and he couldn't place it, he was sure Lydia had never mentioned it before so he knew it wasn't from that.

He looked to Talia and she was frowning at him as well, “do I know this girl?” She asked Lydia.

Lydia looked at the two of them, putting down her cutlery, “I don't think you do, no” her heartbeat thumped unevenly and the entire table turned to stare at her. 

Cora coughed from across the table, “lie.”

Lydia's eyes focused on her, “I know, but it's not my story to tell I'm afraid.”

“So I _do_ know her then?” Peter asked quietly, wondering if this was why the younger girl couldn't stand being around him.

“You know of her, I don't think you ever came into contact with her though.”

Peter nodded, trusting that Lydia knew Malia more than he did and knew she'd open up about it soon enough.

Peter could see that everyone else at the table was looking like someone had told them Christmas was cancelled.

He laughed at them, “stop looking so upset.”

Cora just moved a potato around her empty plate, “I just hate not knowing stuff.”

“I know, but it's a part of life sweetheart,” Aaron said gently, “also I'm sure you'll meet Lydia's pack soon enough and no doubt try to pry all their secrets out of them then.”

Cora smirked and finally took her last bite and seemed to have finished eating. 

“Of course,” Talia agreed, “we'll have to have a full pack get together to introduce you.”

Scott paled at that prospect but Lydia just nodded, “of course, pick a date and I'll make my pack presentable.”

Talia laughed with her, “deal.” She looked down the table, “is everyone finished?”

There was a murmur of agreement and the men stood up to clear the table, Cora quickly snatching a leftover roast potato out of the dish as Aaron passed it in front of her. He tutted in disapproval but was hit in the forehead by a leftover sprout, he glared down at Derek who raised an eyebrow and looked at his mate who was avoiding Aaron's eye innocently.

“ _Stiles._ ”

He rolled his eyes fondly and picked up another dish before moving out of the room, with Derek, Isaac and Boyd following. 

Peter stayed at the table with Lydia for the moment, knowing he'd have to carry all the plates down to the kitchen in a minute and he wanted to ask her if she'd want to see it. 

He knew she loved his kitchen and the Hale kitchen was even bigger and was actually stocked with food.

Isaac was the first to return and he looked at Talia who nodded.

“Do you two have time to stay for a chat?” She asked Scott.

“Um, yeah,” he said.

“Excellent,” Talia replied, “Isaac do you want to tell the boys to join us in the den when they're ready.”

He nodded and left and Peter stood up, starting to collect the plates in.

Talia gestured for Scott to follow her and Cora, Laura and Erica all fell into step behind them, Stiles running to catch up with Scott. 

Lydia stood but stayed with Peter at the table. She waited until they'd all left the room and were a few steps down the corridor before talking. 

“So that wasn't so bad,” she said, smiling at him.

“I didn't say it would be,” he pointed out and Lydia rolled her eyes at him.

“I know but I figured there would be a lot more arguing given the horrified look on Isaac's face when he got invited to stay.”

Peter laughed and started walking to the door, stopping so she could pass him, and then started walking down the corridor with his arms piled high with the dirty plates.

“Usually there is, I think everyone was on their best behaviour today, usually there's more food thrown and at least one plate gets broken. To be honest though we haven't sat down for a meal together in years.”

Lydia scoffed, “no wonder if you break stuff all the time.” 

He gestured to the kitchen door and she opened it and walked in before him, he heard the low breath she let out and smiled to himself as he followed her.

He saw the pile of dishes on the side and put the plates down next to them, then he looked back to Lydia who was running we hands across the marble countertops.

All the counters were a dark grey marble and the cupboards and drawers were all white and the appliances that were out on the side were white as well. 

The island in the middle was bare apart from a sink and a fruit bowl that was full of red apples.

“This kitchen is amazing,” she breathed, then she threw an amused look out of the corner of her eye, “and I bet this kitchen has actual food in it.”

“Oh ha ha,” he rolled his eyes, “are you ready to join the rest in the den?” 

“Yes,” she stretched up and pressed a quick kiss to his lips and then moved to the door.

He threaded his fingers through hers as they wandered down the corridor. Her eyes were roaming over the walls again with interest, there wasn't much there, mostly it was just old paintings, stuff they'd had in the family for years.

They got to the den soon enough, Peter letting Lydia lead. 

Talia was talking to Scott on one side and the rest of the Hales were sat on the couches, all on their phones, Peter could see Aaron typing and he got the feeling that he was writing an article in the notes on his phone. It wouldn't be the first time he'd done it.

Talia wrapped up her and Scott's hushed conversation as they walked in and she turned to them beaming.

“Scott tells me you're a banshee Lydia, I had no idea,” she said, her eyes bright with curiosity.

“Yes, I am, I’m sorry I don’t usually tell people.”

“Oh it’s more than okay,” Talia shook her head, “I just didn’t realise. I’ve only met one banshee in my life and that was only for a very short time, and she was _very_ different to you.”

Aaron spoke up from the couch, “I remember her, she refused to talk to me about _anything_. I thought I’d never get a chance to speak to a banshee.”

Lydia held her arms out, “well here I am.”

Aaron’s eyes lit up and Peter knew in that moment that she had won him over completely.

He sat up and gestured for her to take a seat.

“I only have a few questions,” he promised.

 

*****

Aaron’s idea of a few questions seemed to be vastly different to everyone else’s.

He kept Lydia in one corner of the room for at least an hour; Peter was stood with the rest of the pack and Scott was listening and answering all the questions that Peter’s pack threw at him.

He could hear Lydia answering questions as well, most of them seemed to be just to satisfy Aaron’s curiosity but Peter could tell that some would end up in an article in the future and he could see him reach for his phone every so often, writing down Lydia’s answer word for word.

The packs’ questions for Scott were mostly about the dynamics in his pack. Laura couldn’t seem t get over the lack of structure or hierarchy in their pack, while Cora just could get over the fact that they rarely ran together in the woods.

It was a bonding experience for most of the pack as youngsters, when the pups were too energetic one of the adults would take them running in the preserve and tire them out.

It was also a common trick on full moons, the pack would run together and help the younger ones control their shift. It also prevented them being near anything breakable and all the pack would be on hand to stop anyone running off and causing damage.

On the other hand Scott couldn’t seem to understand _why_ they would do that in the first place.

“It’s just, its _bonding_ ,” Cora said, trying to get it through to him.

“We just do movie or games nights if we want to catch up,” he said, sounding adorably confused.

“Do you train with your pack?” Laura asked.

“Uh, not really? Allison sometimes makes us spar with her, but that’s mostly for her benefit, and Kira keeps up a good routine, Lydia just…” he looked at her and frowned, “well I’m not sure _what_ she does exactly but she’s never at a disadvantage in a fight.”

Talia looked over at her with a proud glow in her eyes, “of course not, she’s more deadly that anyone on this room, apart from Peter of course.”

Laura frowned.

“She’s taken out two Alpha’s singlehandedly and that’s what I know of.”

“That’s _all_ of them,” Lydia called, walking over to them, Aaron following just behind her, “and they all had it coming.”

“That they did,” Peter agreed.

Cora looked her up and down, “no offense, but how?”

Erica was the one who spoke first on this, “she’s got like a genius IQ, I’d imagine it’d be pretty easy to think of a way to kill someone.”

They all looked to Lydia for confirmation.

“The first idiot trapped us in a chemistry classroom in my sophomore year, it was easy to make a few Molotov cocktails. I don’t even think he saw it coming to be honest. The second was a stroke of luck actually, she came for me in the night and while she was doing her whole ‘monologue’ thing I instinctively screamed, it was different to my usual screams and she was out cold for a few minutes, it gave me enough time to find a knife and finish the job.”

Cora whistled, “okay, I _kinda_ like you now.”

Lydia smiled and frowned at the same time, “thank you?”

Laura nodded, “you’re definitely the one for Peter, no doubt about it.”

Stiles nodded, “she’s the cutest killer I’ve ever met.”

Lydia just shrugged, “I just make it look good.”

They all laughed and Peter couldn’t help but agree, even if he didn’t do it out loud. Given the smug look Talia was shooting him it was written all over his face.

They talked on for a while longer until Talia caught sight of the clock.

“Oh no, is that the time?” She turned to Scott and Lydia, now sat on one of the large couches with Peter, “I’m so sorry but I have to go back to work.”

Laura and Derek stood up as well, “we should be going back too,” she said.

Stiles looked like he was going to stand as well but Derek put a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Of course, we’ll be heading back too now,” Lydia nodded.

“Yeah,” Scott agreed, “Peter and Stiles owe me a rematch of Mario Kart.”

Talia shot him a thankful look, glad that Stiles would be distracted and out of their hair for the afternoon.

Stiles looked excited at the prospect and tried to stand again, Derek released him and they both left the room, no doubt going to say goodbye somewhere more private.

Nearly everyone rolled their eyes at their behaviour.

“That sounds lovely, I’ll be in touch about the party to introduce you, it could also be an excuse for our packs to mingle, and you can help us arrange if you would like?” she directed the question at Lydia who quickly agreed.

They all made the rounds, saying their goodbyes and, in Aaron’s case, exchanging emails just in case he thought of anymore questions he wanted to ask Lydia.

Soon everyone was heading out the door and it was only Peter, Scott and Lydia left in the room.

“Shall we be going then?” Peter asked, but he could tell that something had caught Lydia’s eye.

He followed her eye line and saw an old family picture. It was from before all the supernatural world was brought into the light and he would have been about eighteen in it.

She seemed struck dub for a second before grinning, “oh my god you were _so_ skinny.”

“Were?” he asked, pretending to be offended, he vaguely heard Scott say something about going to find Stiles and then they were alone.

“I mean, you’ve filled out a lot since then,” she nodded at the picture, and then looked at his arms, “like, in _all_ the right places.”

He took a step towards her and she stopped her shameless ogling.

“Are you quite finished?” he asked her.

She seemed to think about it before saying a quick “nope,” and reaching a hand out and grabbing his bicep.

“Is this why you came to me in the club? You liked my arms?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lydia just shrugged, “you had the nicest arms and I like a man who can do things from the elbows down.”

He heard Talia scoffed at the same time he heard Laura and Cora giggle as there was a thud, indicating that Derek had most likely tripped over something.

“You’re awful,” he told her.

She seemed to know exactly what he meant, “so they _were_ listening in then? I thought they would be.”

Peter as about to reply when Stiles wandered through the door, “come _on_ Peter, stop flirting with my Queen, we need to leave.”

He heard Talia choke down a laugh followed by a quiet ‘oh my god’.

He just smiled, “of course, sorry Stiles, we’ll be out in a minute.”

Peter threw his keys to Stiles and he left, seeming satisfied.

Peter bent down and pressed a short kiss to Lydia’s lips.

Lydia pulled away first, “I love you but I cannot make out with you when I just _know_ that your pack is listening in,” she said in explanation at his hurt expression.

He nodded in understanding and took her hand, heading for the front doors.

As they walked across the marble foyer Lydia called out a cheery, “goodbye!” and Peter heard the replies bounce around from all corners of the house.

Stiles and Scott were already in the car when they got to it and as Peter started the engine he heard Stiles roll his shoulders and crack his neck, “right Scotty boy, are you ready to get your ass kicked at Mario Kart for the _s_ _ix_ _th time_?”


	7. I Behold the Beauty, But the Beauty Got a Hold on Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the long wait between updates, the rest of this story was origianlly going to be one chapter but it got a little too long again so I'm breaking it up which will hopefully make it easier to finish  
> Chapter title is from Walk the Moon's Lisa Baby.  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

Peter was lounging in the library, trying to ignore the sounds of his soulmate’s pack training outside.

Well, the last time he’d checked Allison had been handing Scott’s ass to him and Malia had been throwing blocks of wood, and anything she could get her hands on really, in the air for Kira to slice in half. Lydia had been sat on one of the patio chairs with a book, occasionally shouting encouragement to her pack.

He could still hear the sounds that had been echoing around his head for a few hours now as he tried to lose himself in some research, without much success.

It was only when he heard Lydia’s phone go off, as clear as if it was in the library with him, that he realised he had made little to no progress.

He sighed loudly and tried to focus more on the words on the page, again to no success.

Peter was still staring blankly at the pages in his lap when the library door swung open and Lydia walked in, followed closely by Kira and Allison.

He looked up at them and smiled, closing the folder quickly and standing to greet them.

Lydia eyed the folder in his hands suspiciously, “is that a case?”

“No,” he put it down on the coffee table, “just some research on a family of hunters that _might_ become one if they keep doing what they’re doing.”

Lydia nodded, still not seeming pleased, but then looked at him with a determined glint in her eye, “okay, we need your credit card.”

Peter nodded, hand already going for his wallet, “sure thing,” he hand the card in his hand and was closing the distance between them when he caught the looks on the other girls faces. “What?”

Allison was the ones to speak as Lydia looked like she was taking a deep breath to calm herself and  Kira’s mouth was still hanging open in shock, “that’s it? No questions asked? We could be going on a mad shopping spree for all you know.”

“I honestly thought that was what you were going to do anyway,” he saw Lydia’s grin widen and then he looked over to Allison’s and Kira’s disbelieving faces and sighed, “so what _do_ you need my card for?”

Lydia as the ones who spoke up, she moved across the room towards him as she replied, “Talia has agreed on a date for the party, it’s in a few weeks but it’s just not going to be the casual dinner we thought, she’s taking the opportunity to reveal her projects for the new year, so it will be a very big, _very publicised_ ball of sorts.”

Peter had known Lydia long enough to read between the lines, “and you have nothing to wear?”

“Not a single one of my dresses will be good enough for this, and we were all hoping to get new dresses for the occasion.”

Kira and Allison nodded and it was only then that Peter noticed Malia skulking by the door; she was hanging just behind the doorframe, trying to stay out of sight and pointedly looking down at the floor.

“It does take a lot of pressure off us meeting your pack as the night won’t be all about the newcomers,” Kira chimed in, “and I know _I_ love her for that, but I’ve just never been to one of these things before.”

“Of course, you know you never need to justify yourself to me,” he handed the card over, “treat yourself ladies.”

Allison and Kira shared excited grins and he couldn’t help but notice that even Malia had let out a breath at his words.

“May I ask one favour though?”

Lydia smiled sweetly at him, “of course.”

“Can you please pick up a tie for me in whatever colour you’ll be wearing? And make sure Scott has something to wear as well?”

Lydia pressed a kiss to his cheek, “of course,” she eyed the file again, moving around him to pick it up “and with us out of your hair you can actually decide whether or not you need to travel all the way to-” She flipped the file open and glanced at the first page, “-Mexico just to rip someone’s throat out.”

Peter took the file out of her hands before she could read much more and tutted, “such an animalistic way of ending a life, Lydia, there’s no need for it with these people, I could just use a much more refined and easier way of killing.”

“Really?” she asked, one perfect eyebrow raised. “You ripped out Aiden and Ethan’s throat, and then Deucalion’s.”

Peter shrugged, now walking with her to the door of the library, presumably to walk Lydia and her packmates to their cars, “it’s different when there’s an active attack, or if there’s feeling behind it.”

Peter saw Malia stumble for a second and then walked off down the corridor as if nothing had happened.

“So that’s why you killed them that way?” Allison asked, her eyes bright with curiosity.

“Mostly, but sometimes when you have to act quick it’s easier to just forget weapons and go off instinct.”

Allison and Lydia nodded like it made complete sense to them.

Scott was coming out of the kitchen with a glass of water when they reached the entrance hall, he frowned at the girls, all ready to go with their coats on, “where are you all going?”

“Not _us_ , Scott, but _we,_ ” Allison said with a smirk, “‘where are _we_ all going?’ is the question.”

Scott looked even more confused and Peter vaguely heard Lydia’s voice chime in to the conversation, but he had just caught the brief look Malia had sent his way and couldn’t take his eyes off her now.

She had only turned her head for a second but her eyes were burning with pure rage, and even though her back was turned Peter could see that her fists were clenched and shaking slightly. He tried to sidestep around every one to talk to her, inside he knew that now was not the time or place, but he _needed_ to know.

He couldn’t think of anything in his words that could cause that look, he knew she wasn’t against his job, or even against  him killing people as she had been the one of the first to admit she was grateful that the Alpha pack was dead, so it wasn’t like she’d cared for them, or disagreed with him on moral grounds.

As Peter slowly got closer he could smell the rage rolling off her, but it wasn’t a dry scent, this was a wet, salty rage, one that threatened tears and Peter couldn’t explain it in his head, his steps slowed as his determination faltered; he took in the slight tremble of her shoulders and saw how Malia had purposefully distanced herself from her pack, letting her hair fall across her face, hiding herself from them.

Was she doing this because of him?

“Peter!” Lydia’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Do you want to join us?”

He glanced at her and her smile was nearly impossible to refuse, however today he had a very good reason to turn her down, “I would love to, but I need to review that case and you need a pack night, you should all go out after you’re finished shopping, have a meal or catch a movie or something, as a pack.”

Peter could tell Lydia felt snubbed by his rejection, but he tried to soften the blow by kissing her on her forehead, “my treat.”

For a brief moment it looked like she was about to argue, then her head twitched to one side, almost as if she could hear something and suddenly she deflated and nodded, “yes, okay.”

He turned back to the rest of the group and saw the smiles fade from their faces as they glanced past him.

When the door slammed shut behind him he didn’t even need to turn to know that Malia wouldn’t be there.

 

*****

 

Peter spent a bare minimum of five minutes looking over the Calavera's file and quickly dismissed them as an empty threat, they had only spoke of going against the Hale family after all, they hadn't actually committed any crimes yet, and if Peter went running every time some old woman started spouting crazy ideals and spoke of revenge he'd never had a moment of peace. 

He slid the drawer to a filing cabinet shut and the sound echoed around the plain room. It was a narrow strip next door to the library, the wall on the right hand side had the cabinets pressed against it, and with barely enough room to squeeze past an open drawer it was compact and didn’t take too much room out of his house.

Talia had laughed at his theatrics in the beginning, the room was plain cream and had what she described as ‘prison lighting’, but what Peter would call low maintenance and easy to clean himself, especially as he couldn’t just send the cleaner in here. Although he didn’t spend a lot of time in here there was a small circular table at the bottom where he could sit and read a file if he ever needed to.

The Calavera’s file was now secure in the right cabinet, and he glanced down the long corridor like room. He was rarely in there, he only kept them for his own records now, Talia and the human council all had access to the online archive and could look up any file at any time they wanted. 

There was a way that the public could request to access this information as well, there had been rare cases in the past when people had requested to see if a missing loved one had been killed by the Enforcer, but far more common were the people requesting to see if the creatures that had attacked them had been killed. 

Peter had received a lot of thank you notes when he'd first returned, from people who'd been victims, confessing to him that they could now sleep a little more peacefully knowing that whatever had attacked them wouldn't be coming after them, or anyone else, ever again. 

Talia had made sure to pass every single one of them onto him when he was first settling into his role as the Hale Enforcer, and it had helped. Seeing that he was actually helping people by it justified the job in his eyes and made it easier to live with the aftermath.

He stopped in the doorway, casting his eyes over the cabinets, wondering if he'd find Malia's name in one of them. 

He wouldn't have thought so before last week, but when he had caught his sister's eye and noticed she had also recognised the young girl’s name, and having Lydia confirm it, had put the thought in his head and now it was damn near impossible to get rid of it. Logically the only way both he and Talia would know her, or recognise the name, would be through this line of work. He looked at the filing cabinets lined up against the long room again. Any file in there could have the answer in it; they’d all passed over Talia’s desk, been read and signed off by her before coming to him to be carried out.

But there were hundreds of files here, hundreds of cases over the years, and then there were those that hadn’t been documented. Those that Peter stumbled upon and struggled to remember all the information for afterwards; they were set aside in a completely separate section of the room, along with the people who had left any trace of humanity so far behind that the only information they had to file them under was their species and country he’d found them in.

 But still, Talia _had_ recognised Malia’s name, and if the Alpha of the Ruling Family remembered your name, even faintly, it was usually tied to an awfully memorable case.

Peter felt the skin on the back of his neck prickle and he shot a nervous look over his shoulder.

There was no reason to feel guilty about this; he argued with himself, I'm not doing anything wrong.

He took a deep breath and walked back into the room, heading straight for the back, glad he had kept the cabinets in alphabetical order. 

Peter finally found the cabinet marked 'Ta' and swung open the middle drawer, after a quick glance he couldn’t see any name under Tate. He frowned and went through the files one by one, even checking the other drawers, but still no luck. There wasn’t even another person with the same last name who could be a relative.

Peter let out a frustrated breath and closed the drawer. His eyes shot down to the unmarked cabinets, ones that were marked by species and countries.

He considered having a quick check of all cases with werecoyotes in North America, seeing if he could see Malia’s name mixed up in a case somehow, but he could almost see the way Talia would roll her eyes and laugh at him if she ever found out how far he’d gone to try and figure this girl out.

He locked the door behind him and decided to spend the day rearranging the library for Lydia, it was about time he kept his promise and finally cleared a shelf for her mathematics section anyway.

 

*****

 

The gala came around quicker than Peter expected.

The official invite had arrived a few weeks ago and Talia had texted him this morning, reminding him to show up, as if he needed that anymore, not with Lydia practically living under the same roof as him.

She had been up at dawn, starting her routine early but still worried, out loud and often, that she wouldn’t have enough time.

After disappearing for ten minutes and returning with two cups of coffee, one of which she sipped at whilst sat on the bed, checking her phone, the other she placed on the bedside table on Peter’s side. He had just blinked blearily at her while she sat there, picking up his own phone and nearly having a heart attack at the time.

“Lydia, it’s _six o’clock in the morning_ ,” he hissed, dropping the phone and rolling over, burrowing into his pillow, “you don’t even get up this early for work,” Peter whined, his voice muffled slightly by the pillow.

Lydia just picked up her own pillow and smacked him with it, “of course I don’t, I set my own hours,” she sounded smug, “but I can start getting up at this time if you prefer…”

Peter just used his pillow to muffle his frustrated groan and tried to go back to sleep.

When he surfaced again Lydia had finished her coffee and the empty mug was on her bedside table, his own cold cup of coffee was the only indicator that a lot of time had passed.

He could hear Lydia in the bathroom, her heart beat loud over all the rustling she was making.

Peter checked his phone again; nine o’clock was a much more reasonable time to be awake.

Lydia exited the bathroom then, the tell tale lingering scent of shaving cream and moisturiser followed her out.

She had evidently just shaved and, by the looks of it, applied a face mask as well as a lot of moisturiser to every inch of skin on her body.

Peter just shuffled himself up and propped himself up against the headboard and then settled in, preparing to watch her get ready, he was still in just some sleep pants and couldn’t bring himself to move to get dressed just yet.

Lydia had joined him for the fifteen minutes the face mask was required to be on her face. She crawled up the bed, turning her back to him and settling herself between his legs, grabbing one of his hands and playing with his fingers. He pulled her closer and enjoyed the comfort she gave him, slowly timing his breaths to hers and he was soon so relaxed that he could feel his eyes droop slightly.

Her alarm went off barely five minutes after that and Lydia shuffled herself off the bed, giving his hand one more squeeze before disappearing into the bathroom.

When had she returned she had her hair in a messy bun and he could smell the coconut coming from her, no doubt from all the oil she used to make her hair shine.

She returned to the bed and her seat between his legs, this time she just rested her head on his shoulder, exposing the long line of her throat which he quickly took advantage of. Peter pressed gentle kisses up and down, knowing she would kill him if he did much more and risked leaving a mark.

They sat like this for half an hour, Lydia checking her hair and legs every so often, before she let out a long sigh and got up off the bed like it was a punishment for her.

She puttered around their room, finding everything she would need for tonight and putting it on her vanity; she also cleared some of the clutter that was on top of their drawers, leaving the surfaces clear.

Lydia put some music on and she was soon painting her toenails a dark navy, Peter could see her mouth curling around the lyrics and she was moving her head to the beat, causing the messy bun she had throw her hair into to wiggle with every movement.

Peter bit his lip in a poor attempt to stay quiet and not disturb her.

They spent the entire morning like that, the conversation was just small talk for the most part, just some comments about what would happen that night, and Lydia talking about how she would need to go shopping for yet _more_ makeup and toiletries.

Peter had to bite back a sarcastic comment about how he doubted there were some products she _didn’t_ already have. He didn’t want to wind her up after all.

He’d been kicked out of the bedroom in the early afternoon, Lydia had claimed he was starting to distract her and she needed the time and space to get ready.

She’d just got out of the shower, her long hair was wet and she was brushing it gently at her vanity, raising one perfectly tweezed eyebrow at Peter in the mirror, he was tempted to stay but he knew she was already worried about not having enough time and he didn’t want to add on to that.

He only had to spend a short amount of time alone downstairs as Scott, Kira, and Stiles had turned up a few hours early so he knew he could waste some time with the boys. Scott explained his early arrival just with a helpless shrug to Kira was dragging a large overnight bag behind her and had a garment bag slung over her shoulder. She was dressed in only sweats and a t-shirt, it didn’t look like she had any makeup on and her hair was still wet.

“Where’s Lydia?” she asked, eyes wide and looking slightly panicky. “She said we could get ready together, and I _need_ her help.”

Peter had rushed forward at that, “let me take that,” he said, picking up the bag and sending a dirty look to Scott who, for his credit did look a little shamefaced at not realising she needed help before that, “I’ll show you to your room and then take you to her, she’ll still be in our room.”

Kira nodded grateful and he quickly escorted her up the stairs, when he knocked gently on his door and pushed his way in Kira followed slowly, looking around the room with bight, curious eyes. She eyed the vanity that Peter had had installed for Lydia and the various counters that were cleared of all things.

Lydia looked Kira over, “that bag,” she said, eyeing the huge satchel, “does _not_ look big enough for all your stuff.”

“I know,” Kira wailed, throwing herself down on the stool in front of the vanity.

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Peter said, slowly backing out of the room, not that any of the girls took any notice of him, both now concerned with looking through Kira’s things and deciding what would work for tonight.

When he got back down to the boys they had already gravitated towards the games room, about halfway through a battle game of some kind and both looking far more relaxed than when they had first entered.

Peter took a seat and nudged Stiles’ foot with his, “why aren’t you getting ready with Derek?”

Stiles blinked over to him for a few seconds then focused back on the game, he spoke then, still trying to concentrate on the screen, “they’re revealing the project they’ve been working on, so Laura and Derek will be busy all day, doing things I can’t even _know_ about.” He rolled his eyes but Peter could tell he wasn’t too annoyed about it, “so I thought I’d come here and chill with you, also it wouldn’t hurt for Scott’s pack to show up with both of us, make them not look like outsiders you know.” He shrugged and Peter just nodded absentmindedly.

No one really even noticed his entrance usually so he doubted people would even recognise him as being part of the Hale pack if they did see him.

They spent the afternoon like that, playing games of Mario Kart and then some other games that Scott suggested and Peter tried hopelessly to keep up with them but lost every time.

There was only one more interruption, when Allison and Malia showed up, both carry large overnight bags and garment bags, he took both of the heavy bags, not without Malia sending him a suspicious look as he did. He showed the girls to the rooms they had been in last time, and then showed them to his and Lydia’s room, knocking gently and gesturing for them to go in before returning to Scott and Stiles.

When he’d gone upstairs to get himself ready and dressed about forty minutes before they were scheduled to leave he hadn’t been allowed in; Lydia had just passed his tux and shoes to him around a half closed door.

She had refused to let him in because apparently they weren’t ready yet. Peter had no idea what could take more than two hours about getting ready but wisely didn’t question it. He had just got into the suit, gelled the hair the way Lydia had once said she preferred and returned downstairs to see what Stiles and Scott were getting up to.

They disappeared upstairs to get ready themselves and had returned a very short time later.

Kira and Allison had followed Scott and Stiles downstairs; both had their hair and makeup done, but were dressed just in white bathrobes and were complaining about being too hungry to carry on. They seemed to be in a better mood after Peter had fixed them both a quick sandwich, making sure there wasn’t anything that could drip on them or smudge any makeup, as per the girls’ requests, and they returned upstairs to quickly get dressed so they were ready.

They were both stood in the hall with the rest of their pack now; Allison had a pretty emerald green dress on, the material and shape reminded Peter vaguely of Greek goddesses, and the way Allison had curled her hair and paired gold jewellery with it did nothing but encourage the image in Peter’s head. The dress flared ever so slightly at her waist but otherwise it hung straight down, only moving when she did, revealing a thigh high spilt in one leg.

Kira wasn’t wearing a dress but had opted for an almost black sequined crop top and a long, black, flowing skirt, whenever she moved and her top caught the light Peter could see hundreds of different shades of orange and red reflecting from under the sequins. Peter knew the other girls had had to order their dresses but he couldn’t help but be amazed at exactly how much Kira’s had been personalised to her.

It had been a few weeks since Lydia had gone shopping with her pack and bought their outfits; a few weeks since she’d practically run past him through the entrance hall and up the stairs with a garment bag and a bag of boxes. When he’d finally caught up to her she was in the wardrobe, instructing him through the door to sit on the bed and to close his eyes, and _don’t you dare peek Peter._

There had been a lot of shuffling before he’d been given the okay to open his eyes, and he was _not_ disappointed.

She was dressed head to toe in flowing electric blue fabric. It was a simple shape at the top, dipping low between her breasts with spaghetti straps and then it flared out at the waist. The way it draped over her was perfect, each pleat was evenly spaced and he was impressed she’d managed to find something this good in less than a day. Peter had been entranced as she did a few spins in their bedroom, the dress fanning up so he could see her bare feet under it.

He could see more boxes piled behind her in the wardrobe, presumably with new shoes and matching jewellery if he knew his soulmate correctly (and he liked to think that he did at his point).

He stood and held out a hand, wanting to see the dress up close; she seemed to read his mind and took it, turning slowly in his arms.

The back was low, dipping all the way to her waist at the very centre of her back, the straps crossing in the centre.

“Beautiful,” he had said and he couldn’t help but repeat himself now as she walked down the stairs towards him and the rest of her pack. He’d already known that the dress was amazing but somehow with a simple diamond and sapphire bracelet and nude platforms so high that Peter had honestly worried for Lydia’s ankles when he’d first seen them, she looked nothing less than royalty and it was well worth the wait.

Malia seemed a bit wobbly on her heels but was more relaxed when she was on flat ground, her dress was the simplest out of all four, it was plain black, only came in slightly at the waist but otherwise just hung off her and the neckline plunged to just above her belly button. Her usual mess of hair was straight and tucked behind one ear and she didn’t seem completely comfortable in the formal wear but Peter wasn’t surprised, he usually saw her in t-shirts and shorts or sweats.

“You all look amazing,” Scott said, he was wearing a plain black tux, like most of the men would be, but his tie was a bright red, something Talia had apparently insisted on. Usually Alphas wore red anyway, but she had sent a note along to Lydia, warning her of the tradition just in case Scott didn’t know and it seemed Lydia had taken it as a challenge.

“Aww thanks Scotty,” Stiles joked wiggling his eyebrows at the other boy, but then he turned to the ladies, “He is absolutely right however, you all look like goddesses and I’m not worthy to walk the same ground as you.”

Surprisingly it was Malia who reacted first, she reached out and shoved his shoulder gently, “shut up you dork,” but Peter could see the blush in her cheeks, the rest of the pack didn’t mention it so he followed in their lead and let it slide.

Lydia walked over to him, her dress and perfectly straight hair flowing behind her, she was a lot taller with these heels on and was only a few inches short than him now. He held an arm out and she linked him, “we’d best get going, we don’t want to be late.”

Peter glanced at his watch, “I’m never usually on time to these things anyway.”

Lydia raised an eyebrow and looked like she was about to reply but Allison pulled her phone out of a small black clutch and spoke first, “my dad’s already there now, when’s the car due here to get us?”

Scott tilted his head to one side, “it’s about two minutes away I think.”

He was right, the car that someone, most likely Erica, had sent to collect them was just making the second to last turn and would be in the clearing soon.

Lydia smiled nervously and turned to the other girls for one last check and when they all nodded she started walking towards the door, still linking with Peter.

She released his arm and ran ahead, swinging the doors open, she stood to one side and let the rest of the pack get out before her, then she stood in Peter’s way.

“One second,” she murmured, before lifting herself up impossibly further onto her toes and pressing a small kiss to his throat, on the area she _knew_ was sensitive directly under his jaw on the left.

He felt his shift coming to the surface as her teeth grazed the spot and her lips lingered and he knew his eyes would be glowing if he opened his eyes now.

She pulled away and shook him slightly, smiling when his eyes snapped open and she looked into them, then she leaned back and her eyes turned assessing as she looked over the tie she had presented him with earlier in the day.

It was the exact same colour as her dress and, Peter now realised, was the same colour as his beta blue eyes.

“Perfect,” Lydia nodded to herself, “I just needed to check. We can go now.”

Peter just rolled his eyes but didn’t let the shift fade away, “you’re ridiculous.”

 

*****

 

The pack was very quiet at the beginning of the car ride, none of them doing much besides smiling nervously at each other before looking out the window as the trees rushed by.

Allison and Lydia seemed far more at ease than the rest of their packmates, but even they were occasionally shooting nervous glances out of the windows, trying to see how far away they were from the Hale House.

The tension in the car was almost palpable and it was only growing as the car moved through the preserve. Peter couldn’t deny that it was starting to get to him a little.

He was realising that maybe this _was_ a big deal for him after all; his pack was meeting his soulmate’s pack. Sure they’d met Lydia and Scott before but having the mall there just made this just seemed so _real_ to him in a way he couldn’t describe. It was like the dinner a few weeks ago had been a dress rehearsal and now was the main event.

And now it was as if Peter wasn’t sure he was ready for that.

He checked his watch for the tenth time; he’d never been this early to a gala before in his life. He always insisted on showing up at least two hours late, ensuring the paparazzi had left or were too interested in filming whatever speech Talia was making to notice his entrance.

They didn’t tend to take pictures of the stragglers, especially just one man who they didn’t even recognise as a member of the family.

It had helped that no one had managed to get a picture of him for the past ten years and there weren’t any recent pictures of him at the house, the only picture of him out there were the ones before he became the Enforcer, back when he was still just Peter Hale, the scrawny kid brother of Talia. Lydia had said herself that no one would put two and two together, no one would ever connect the man he’d become to the old pictures that still floated around the internet; he was nothing at all like he used to be.

But him showing up to a gala like _this_ would be next to impossible to miss.

He was in one of the Hale cars and wearing beta blue, anyone who knew anything about pack dynamics would recognise him immediately just from that, even if they’d never seen a picture of him before in their life it wouldn’t be a difficult leap.

Peter was about to lose all his privacy, all the distance he’d put between himself and the rest of the world didn’t seem like a lot now, in fact he was too close for comfort.

His image was going to be put out there and people would finally have a face to put against his name.

Peter hadn’t realised this when he had agreed to come tonight, and now it had clicked he couldn’t believe how _stupid_ he’d been in not seeing this before now.

And god, _Lydia_.

She was wearing _his_ colour; it would be obvious they were together.

She was about to become the perfect target for anyone who wanted revenge against the Hale family.

And there were _so many_ people who opposed their rule.

Peter’s head spun as he imagined thousands of scenarios of how this would play out as soon as the news hit that Peter Hale, the monster, had found his soulmate. Each one was more horrifying than the last.

Lydia’s head snapped around to him, almost as if she could _feel_ his inner turmoil, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard, “penny for your thoughts?” she asked quietly, finally breaking the silence in the car and the tension melted a bit, the rest of them now forgetting their own worries and focussing in on Peter instead.

“I-” Peter didn’t know what to say, all his thoughts seemed stupid when he tried to put them together in a sentence, “they’ll know who I am. They’ll know we’re together.”

Lydia just frowned at him, “of course they will, isn’t that the whole idea?”

“No Lydia,” he took a deep breath, “they’ll know I’m the Enforcer, there are people who want revenge against the family and they might-”

He couldn’t finish the sentence; he couldn’t even bear to think about it.

Scott was the one who spoke first, “revenge?”

“There are some people who don’t agree with my job or what I do Scott, they see it as murder, not justice,” he tried to explain.

Malia scoffed, “yeah I can see that,” her voice was full of disgust at him and Peter was already _so close_ to the edge, he could feel himself lose control a bit.

Malia had never hid her hatred for him, but now for her to be so dismissive of a potential threat to her packmates’ life it finally made him snap.

“Yes Malia, I get it, but these people won’t just avoid me because they _don’t like me_. These people have called for blood in the past, and now your friend will become the perfect target for them as soon as she steps _one foot_ out of this car.”

Malia’s eyes flickered down; she looked slightly shamefaced, as if she hadn’t thought of anyone hurting Lydia because of him.

It went quiet again; Scott and Stiles were looking down at their hands while Kira and Allison were shooting worried looks at Lydia, who didn’t look scared, or even affected by his words at all.

“Peter,” she said her voice perfectly calm and he felt her hand squeeze his once more, “we both knew this from the beginning, is this because…” her voice trailed off and she squinted her eyes at him, “no, never mind. It’s not as if I’m an easy target Peter, we’re hardly ever apart and even without you I can protect myself better than most.”

He knew this, he did, but it was just hard to imagine Lydia going up against the type of people who were usually behind the threats that were sent to the Family.

The rest of the pack had the decency to look away as they had a moment but when Peter glanced around at them again he met Allison’s eyes and she was looking at him unwaveringly, “she also has all the protection your pack and ours can give her, she won’t be a sitting duck Peter.”

“I know,” he agreed, all the tension draining from his body, “I just didn’t think we’d have to deal with this so soon.”

Lydia shrugged, “you’re literally the only person who didn’t realise this would happen Peter, I’ve already spoke to Stiles about how he dealt with the change and even discussed it with Talia and Aaron.”

Allison nodded like she knew all this, “my dad even offered to get her a gun and some wolfsbane bullets when he realised what the pack coming to this ball would mean.”

Lydia scoffed, “I don’t need one and the last thing I want in the world is a gun.”

Peter sent a small smile her way which Lydia returned with a wide smile immediately.

“Are you over your little freak out now?” she asked, and Peter could hear the teasing lilt to her voice and instead of getting embarrassed by it he found it grounding.

“Yes, I am.”

“Good,” Lydia said, sitting up straighter and flicking her hair over her shoulder, “because we should be very close by now.”

It was like flicking a switch, Kira started shaking her leg nervously, Scott went pale and Stiles looked up excitedly. Allison just shot an excited smile to Malia who just looked down, fussing with her dress.

The car slowed and everyone sat up straighter in their seats, trying to stop themselves leaning their heads towards the window for a better view.

The car pulled into place at the end of the small walkway Talia had created for events like this. She hadn't seen the need for a red carpet in the beginning, but with more and more reporters showing up to each event she had to cave and get a large red carpet, set on a solid walkway, going from the door all the way down into the drive, with barriers on either side to hold back the photographers. It seemed ridiculous to Peter that they even had photographers for these events, but as they were the equivalent to the royal family for all supernatural beings Talia has told him that they shouldn't have been surprised.

These parties had always attracted a few prominent members of both the human and supernatural society so he wasn't surprised at all to see a few faces already there that he recognised from Lydia's copies of Cosmo that she left lying around his house.

There was a moment of silence when the car stopped completely, and then the door opened. A tall man in a suit, no doubt part of the security team that Talia hired for these events, held the door for them.

Lydia nodded to Scott and he was the first to get out, turning around quickly to help Kira follow him out the car. Allison and Malia were next, both taking one of Scott's hands to steady themselves. Stiles followed and then it was just Peter and Lydia left in the car.

Her eyes were practically sparkling as she looked at him and then glanced out of the car, Peter could see the massive hoards of people that usually turned up to these things and he couldn't help but swallow as his earlier nerves returned.

He felt something nudge his shin and when he looked down it was one of Lydia's heels.

“Come on Peter, I'm _not_ going first,” she said, and Peter could hear the nerves in her voice, but they were drowned out by the excitement, it carried through to her heartbeat, which had been calm all day but was now going at double time.

He smiled at her, focusing on her racing heart and then got out of the car.

He could see that Scott and the rest of the group had moved away slightly, Stiles talking to them animatedly and pointing them in different directions as the photographers he knew asked for pictures.

A small chuckle brought his attention back to the car. He hasn't even glanced at the man holding the door, but now he noticed it was one of the men who usually helped him sneak in hours after the last guest had arrived.

“Joe,” he held a hand out.

“Peter!” Joe replied, in his always too loud voice, “I never usually see you here this early.”

“Yes well,” he shrugged vaguely towards the open car door, where Lydia was waiting, watching the two men interact with curious eyes.

Peter could also see several reporters who were looking their way, some were sending calculating looks towards Peter, the few who were close enough to hear him greet the guard, and his reply, were staring slack jawed at them.

He held out a hand for Lydia to hold on to as she slid gracefully from the car, her hair settling over her shoulder and the dress sitting perfectly on her body and draping across the floor.

Joe's eyes widened at her, then he turned to Peter with a warm grin, “you sly dog Peter, I'm so happy for you.”

He shook Peter’s hand again and kissed the back of Lydia's palm before hurrying them forward so he could close the car door.

Joe didn't say anything else but Peter could see the small smile on his face and it was strangely comforting to him as he turned to the rest of the pack.

They had moved even closer to the house now, Stiles talking them through it and guiding them whenever they looked a little lost.

There were only a few people heading into the house before them, and it looked like their car was the last to arrive so the pack didn't have to worry about any other guests hurrying them along or distracting them.

Peter knew it would be a brand new, and potentially scary situation for them, but he also remembered how worried Stiles used to be before the balls, they had the best possible person to take them through this and he could see the gratefulness on all their faces whenever Stiles cut in.

He could just hear their conversation now, he had turned his back to the front of the house, shielding Lydia slightly as she fussed with her dress and hair but was listening in.

“Stiles,” the female reporter greeted him warmly, “you're a little later than usual, and who are these? Some old school friends perhaps?”

Peter held back a scoff; luckily Stiles saw the question for what it was as well.

“Of course not Heather, you know I was home schooled,” he chuckled and Peter imagined how the reporter had probably blushed at being called out for being obvious in fishing for information, “this is the McCall pack, here on request and by personal invitation of Peter Hale.”

The whole night seemed to grow quieter at this or maybe Peter was just focussing in on the woman’s reaction, the noise of shutter sounds seemed to slow and Peter heard Heather let out a scoff herself.

“Yeah right Stiles, like the Enforcer himself ever comes to these things...” she trailed off and Peter turned around as he could feel the eyes on him.

He felt Lydia move to the side of him and take his hand, he looked down at her and smiled at her quickly, he waited until she tilted her head before they started walking down towards her pack.

The blonde reporter stood in front of them had her wide eyes staring in their direction, moving from his face, to his tie, to his and Lydia's joint hands and then back again.

He could hear all the cameras start clicking again; he tried to ignore the annoying flashing as he stared at Stiles who was smiling steadily back at him. He glanced over the other members of the pack and could see that Scott, Allison and Kira's grin hadn't left their faces, clearly enjoying the confusion this moment had caused.

Malia was still smiling, even if it was forced and didn't reach her eyes, she would still look happy to an outsider.

Peter took a look around the reporters, finally seeing the funny side of this as he noticed them trying frantically to write stuff down, none of them firing the usual 'red carpet questions' their way as they walked.

When they reached the rest of the group and stood before the blonde reporter she still hadn't recovered enough to string two sentences together.

Stiles took pity on her, “he's never usually here on time, which is why you wouldn't have seen him before.”

Heather nodded in reply, her eyes still slightly dazed as she looked at him, he could see her scrambling for a question, her chest moving fast as she took quick breaths.

“But yes, Heather was it?” he said, in reply to their earlier conversation, Heather had managed to focus in on them again and nodded, the shock passing, “I'm Peter Hale and these are my guests for the evening, the McCall pack, as Stiles told you.”

He went around and said their names clearly for her, she diligently wrote them all down on a pad, pausing when he said Allison's name, then nodding slightly as if she had already spoke to Chris tonight and knew his daughter would be in attendance.

He finally reached Lydia and his felt his gaze soften, “and this is Lydia Martin, my soulmate.”

Heather swallowed and nodded, and Peter could see her hands shake slightly as she put the notepad away, “well it was lovely meeting you all,” she nodded to the rest of the pack, “I hope you enjoy your night Mr Hale, and you too Ms Martin.”

It seemed like a standard, if not a bit formal, reply, but Lydia smiled warmly at her, “I'm sure we will Heather, and please, Peter and Lydia will do just fine.”

Heather nodded slowly, “of-of course Ms Mar- Lydia, yes, thank you.”

Lydia nodded one last time and then she started pulling on Peter's hand, they moved towards he house at a quicker pace than when the pack had been going on their own, not many people felt confident enough to try and stop them so it seemed. A few managed to grab Stiles and asked him curiously, “is that _really_ him?”

Stiles nodded each time and laughed at how their faces would freeze when Peter would fix them with a stare.

After a few times of this happening the rest of the pack picked up on it, Lydia rolled her eyes and pulled his hand slightly, when he finally looked down at her she was biting her lips to try and hide her humour.

“Stop _doing_ that,” she hissed, her smile still wide and at odds with her words, “you'll give them all heart attacks.”

He laughed at her and kissed her hair, knowing kissing her face would be off limits, especially as he knew exactly how long it had taken her to do her makeup today.

They were finally at the stairs leading up to the door, the whole pack were asked to turn and smile for an entrance picture, and then to Peter's surprise Erica stepped forward.

“Peter, would you mind if you and Lydia could please have one on your own? Talia wanted me to make sure someone took a picture of this moment,” Erica’s smiled hardened, “she sent me down here _specifically_ to make sure you did this.”

She didn’t look pleased by that at all.

Stiles grinned and answered for him, “oh boy I remember this,” he said with uncontrollably glee, “they would _love_ to Erica, we'll just wait inside, take as long as you need.”

Peter let out a sigh; he should've known that his sister would have planned something like this. Erica turned them around, so now they were facing all the news photographers, who were now all trying to lean over the barrier to get a good shot of the new couple.

It wasn't anything new really; all of the mated pairs in the pack had done this at one point of their lives. The public liked to know things about the Hale family and a pack member meeting their soulmate was definitely one of them. The fact that it was Peter, the famous black sheep of the family who hadn't been photographed for nearly ten years, who had met his soulmate would make it that more juicy to them.

He forced himself to keep smiling as all the pictures were being taken, even if it felt more like a grimace to him.

Then suddenly Lydia leant her shoulder into his side, dropping his hand and wrapping it around his waist. He looked down at her and she was already staring up at him, her eyes were still wide and hadn't lost the excitement shining in them just yet.

The rest of the world seemed to fade away as he stared at her, the only noise he could hear was her heart beating fast.

From this close he could see the soft pale pink shimmer on her eyes, see the way her cheekbones would reflect the glare of all the camera flashes. Her grin was wide, lips painted a soft pink and she bit her lip as she noticed Peter glancing down at her mouth.

She pushed her hair over one shoulder, using the movement as an excuse to move closer to him.

He could see the question in her eyes as she returned the look, eyes dipping down to his mouth for a second before returning to his eyes.

He couldn't help the smile that overcame his face; he couldn't deny that this was everything he'd wanted and more, that _Lydia_ was everything he'd ever wanted and so much _more_.

He turned and reached down, wrapping her arms around her waist and burrowed his face into her neck, and he quickly lifted her up, ignoring her amused squeal. He could hear her start laughing, a high pitched breathy giggle that was infectious and soon Peter was laughing too, slowly turning her around and lowering her carefully down until both her feet were on the floor on the other side of him.

He leant in and pressed a kiss to the edge of her jaw, just under her ear, avoiding the makeup on her face and the shimmering powder he could see on her shoulder and collarbones.

Lydia stretched herself up to his height, definitely taking full advantage of the high shoes she was wearing, and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

She pulled back and laughed at him, it brought him back to focus, and he could still hear all the cameras, now accompanied by lots of chatter.

Lydia grabbed his hand and started dragging him into the foyer of the house.

“I think we've given them enough of a show for now,” she said, sounding more than a little out of breath, but Peter wasn't going to be the one to point that out to her.


	8. And I Confess, I Never Expected This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, again I'm sorry for the long wait between updates, although this story is coming to a close now so hopefully you won't have to put up with my terrible updating habt for much longer!  
> Chapter title is from Walk the Moon's Candycane Jane.  
> As always this work is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are my own.  
> Hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~fallingfromdisgrace

Erica was waiting for them just inside the door with her lips pursed and one eyebrow already arched, “you two are killing me,” she said in a flat voice.

Lydia just widened her eyes and tried to look innocent, “I honestly don't know what you're talking about.”

Erica rolled her eyes, “you used to be such an ice queen Lydia, and Peter was the world’s most isolated psychopath.”

Peter felt a little hurt by that, and replied in a small voice, “I wasn't _that_ isolated Erica.”

She just ignored him and continued on, “but somehow together you're the sweetest thing ever.”

Lydia just laughed for a moment and then let her face fall into a serious stare, “just _don't_ cross us Erica.”

There was a moment of silence as Lydia raised an eyebrow and continued staring Erica down. Then Stiles spoke up from behind Erica, “am I the only one who's a little turned on right now?”

Peter let out a short, shocked laugh and a smile flooded Lydia's face once again.

“But she's right though,” Stiles continued, “I think you two were cuter just then than me and Derek were when we were presented.”

“Of course we are,” Lydia sniffed, “we're just the two sweetest people ever.”

Peter could hear a small chorus of laughter coming from behind him, tucked into one side of the hall was the rest of the pack; Kira and Allison were smiling and covering their mouths slightly to muffle the noise of their giggles. They all started walking towards him and Lydia when they noticed him looking their way.

“Now you and I both know that that isn't true Lydia Martin,” Cora cut over the beginning of Stiles' reply, she was striding over to them, her deep purple dress fanning out behind her as she moved. Aaron was following her over, carefully fixing his suit jacket.

Lydia looked a little sheepish at being overheard and called out but it didn't seem to deter her in the slightest, the steel glint Peter could see in her eyes proved that.

The rest of Lydia's pack slowed down to a halt, only Scott had really met Cora and Aaron before, and so they hung back quietly.

Peter noticed Erica glance at the two approaching pack members before looking at her phone before swearing softly and running past them, no doubt rushing off to keep Talia to her schedule.

“Now Cora, what are you implying?” Lydia called when Cora was a bit closer; her eyes were impossibly wide now, seemingly full of confusion as she looked up at the younger girl.

“I'm saying your detached practicality is impressive and makes you the perfect match for my dear uncle,” she smirked, “also me and you _have_ to have a spar one day.”

Peter bristled at that, not liking the thought of Lydia, his delicate and so _breakable_ Lydia, fighting with _anyone_ at all.

Lydia just grinned widely, showing teeth, “fair warning, I don't play fair.”

“Me neither.”

“Excellent.”

“ _Girls_ ,” Aaron sighed, “can you plan this brawl another time perhaps?”

“I'm so sorry Mr Hale,” Lydia turned her innocent eyes onto him now.

“Don't even try that on with me, young lady, it simply won't work,” he said flatly, but still sent a small indulgent smile her way, “I know all your secrets remember.”

Cora and Aaron seemed to notice Scott and the other girls then, Cora looking them over while Aaron greeted them warmly, “it's nice to see you again Mr McCall, and this is the rest of your pack I presume?”

“Hello Mr Hale, Cor- Miss Hale,” Scott stumbled over the formalities a little but introduced his pack quickly enough.

“Ahh,” Aaron said as he shook all their hands, “you must be Chris's daughter then?” He directed this towards Allison.

“Yes I am, it's an honour to be here,” Allison smiled back at him, “thank you for inviting all of us.”

“Nonsense, you're all practically family now, so you can just call any Hale by their first name if you would like,” he said kindly, starting to lead them into the main hall where they would be spending most of the night, it was already full of people standing around and making small talk as they waited for the night to get underway. “This ball is as much to introduce you as it is for revealing whatever Talia has been planning. In fact,” he glanced around quickly; most likely scanning the crowd to make sure his wife wasn't in hearing range yet, “I bet no one will even be bothered by what she has to say about her boring project once you are introduced to the pack.”

He laughed along with the rest of them and then stopped as he heard his phone vibrating. He pulled it out of his inside pocket and glanced at the screen, his face paling at what he saw.

“Oh _crap_.”

He answered the call and Peter and the other we're had no trouble listening into the call over all the chatter in the room.

“ _I heard that Aaron, don't think I'll forget it_ ,” Talia's voiced was calm despite her words. “ _Please tell everyone to take a seat, then we can get the_ boring _part of the evening out of the way_.”

Aaron swallowed and nodded to himself, “yes dear, I'll see you in a few minutes no doubt.”

“ _Yes you will_.”

She hung up and Aaron quickly excused himself to make his way up to the small stage they had set up for the band in the corner.

Cora and Stiles took it upon themselves to usher the newcomers to their table, it was one next to the Hale table at the very front of the hall, and Peter was relieved to see that he was seated on Lydia's Pack's table next to Lydia and Scott.

They all found their places quickly and were just sitting down as Aaron's voice floated through the crowd, calling for the rest of the guests to take their seats.

Peter smiled over at Lydia and he felt her take his hand under the table. The rest of the pack was looking around with interested eyes, every so often subtly pointing out a celebrity they recognised to the others.

Peter looked at the Hale table and saw that there was only Stiles and Cora sat there, Talia, Derek and Laura were presumably still upstairs somewhere.

When everyone was seated Aaron smiled around the hall and welcomed them all to his home, this speech was no doubt the same one he used for each ball but it was the first time Peter had ever heard it in person.

He ended with a grin and asked everyone to stand as Talia was about to make her entrance.

There was a scuffle as everyone stood; turning so they could see the huge wooden double doors to the rear of the hall. Once the noise had faded away to nothing they swung open, revealing Talia, stood alone in the centre and dressed in an off the shoulder Alpha red ball gown.

The guests all started clapping and she smiled widely, staying in her place for only a heartbeat  and then started to make her way towards the raised platform her husband was currently standing on, Peter noticed Laura and Derek slip into the room after her, a few steps behind but following her path as she walked in between tables, they both looked nervous but Laura seemed to relax the further they got into the room, Derek’s shoulders only loosened when he looked over at the Hale table and sent a small smile to Stiles, who sent him a double thumbs up and a wink for good measure.

By the time the trio reached the stage the blush had faded from Derek’s cheeks but still lingered on the tips of his ears, so it was only noticeable if you knew Derek well.

Aaron took her hand as she stepped up onto the stage, kissing her on the cheek before moving to one side so she could stand in front of the microphone.

“Thank you so much for joining us tonight,” she began, slowly looking around the hall, “It’s my greatest honour to share with you a dream that has been close to my heart for quite some time now, you see,” she looked down for a second then back at the audience, her eyes looked harder and more determined now, “I hear from people across the world every day, I receive letters, emails, phone calls and more. But unless you live in the US and are willing to travel people in the supernatural community have no one to turn to if they need help and want to talk to someone.”

She paused and looked around the room again.

“Every other nation has embassies scattered across the world, places their people can go to if they need help or want to seek asylum, and I intend to follow in their paths. It is my aim to build embassies around the world so that any person with supernatural ties, Others or humans alike, can find shelter and help immediately when they call upon it.

“Some of you will have noticed that my brother is here tonight,” there was a slight murmur at that and Peter could see heads turning around, trying to catch a glimpse of him. Talia ignored this and continued, “he knows better than anyone in this room that some people find themselves in situations that they cannot control. Situations that no one should ever have to deal with alone, and that is why these measures will be put in place as it has come to my attention, rather _recently_ in fact, that although I am a presence in this small town I am still not approachable, even to the people who live here.

“If I am not helpful to the people of Beacon Hills I can’t imagine what help I will be to my people around the world. So instead of forcing people to travel to see me I will take the help to them. This will be another step forward that will bring our community together, as well as showing the world that we are just as strong as any other nation.”

 Talia finished with a smile and there was a scattering of clapping around the hall.

“My children, Laura and Derek, are here with me tonight as they have been instrumental in making this happen. Laura has drafted the contracts and is in negotiations with the countries we have chosen to start this project off in. Derek will be designing the new buildings and overseeing the construction. We plan to open the doors on our first embassy next year, with the addresses being released closer to the time.”

Peter was distracted by Stiles who silently cheering Derek on from his table, the movement so obvious as he was near enough sat alone.

He tried to hold in a chuckle but Lydia must have noticed as she followed his line of sight and bit her lip to stop her laugh escaping.

Peter missed the last part of Talia’s speech but soon enough everyone was clapping and Stiles was cheering out loud now, making sure that Derek’s cheeks turned scarlet whilst he was still on the stage.

Once Derek and Laura had left the stage and the applause had died down only Talia was left stood at the podium, she shook her hair out behind her shoulders and looked around the room, her eyes catching on Peter’s for a second too long. They slid from him to Lydia who was sat next to him, her dress making her impossible to miss and the smile that seemed to be fixed on Lydia’s face was contagious it seemed as Talia’s eyes softened and she let her blood red lips part in a grin of her own.

“But today, ladies and gentleman, is not all about politics. Today is a new start, I have my own personal new beginnings today, but I am also delighted to share that someone else in my family has had his own new start recently. He usually skips these parties or arrives fashionably late,” Talia let a sly smirk cross her face at this and the Hales in the know all let out a snicker, “but someone has _finally_ convinced him to arrive on time, and we are so thankful to her for this. 

“So, without further ado, I would like to congratulate my brother, Peter Hale,” the entire hall was silent as Talia paused, “and his soulmate, Lydia Martin.”

She gestured to their table and lifted her hand slightly, indicating they should stand. 

Lydia’s hand tightened in his and he stood first, pulling her chair out slightly so her dress wouldn’t get caught and they looked out to the hall of people who were looking wide eyed in their direction.

“Peter,” Talia started, “you’ve done so much for me over the years, done so much for the community, and I know it has come at great personal expense.” Peter thought briefly of his house out in the woods, once so cold and quiet, his self inflicted isolation that had settled his mind but torn him in two at the same time. He didn’t know how he had lived like that for so long, especially now he had Lydia. 

“I am so happy for you brother, you deserve happiness and when I see you with Lydia I realise that you’ll have more than you could ever need. I wish you both all the luck in the world.”

The clapping started almost immediately and Peter looked around at the hall and found smiling faces clapping and helping him celebrate his soulmate. 

Peter was touched by Talia’s little speech, he wasn’t present for most of Derek and Stiles’ ball but he hadn’t heard of Talia giving a speech.

The clapping died down once again and Peter and Lydia sat once more. She was shaking slightly but when he looked over to check her she was still grinning. 

Talia was saying something about the party starting but Peter wasn’t paying attention, he was still looking at Lydia smiling, it lit up her entire face and he couldn’t help but grin himself. 

She leaned in and pressed a short kiss to his cheek, making most of the girls at their table coo and smile to themselves.

Soon the food was being brought out, wine was being poured and everyone was talking and enjoying the night.

Peter was silent for most of the meal, preferring to sit and listen to Scott’s pack chat and bicker like teenagers, only rarely would someone include him in the conversation but they seemed to understand that he was content being a bystander.

When he wasn’t talking he took the time to study Malia, he knew he should have left it alone but he seemed incapable of doing so.

When she was engaged in a conversation with any of the pack she was completely in her element, she would grin and tease them, if seeming a bit uncomfortable when she touched her hair, as if she was remembering where she was.

When not included in direct discussion she glanced around nervously every so often, like she was already planning escape routes in her head.

Whenever Peter talked she would sit back in her chair, a slightly twist of her lips showing her displeasure, but otherwise there was no other sign of animosity towards him.

It looked as though Lydia or Scott had warned her about tonight and she was on her best behaviour.

When the meal had finished and all the plates were cleared away they were invited to stand so the tables could be cleaned and reset and some could be moved to make more room for the dance floor.

Peter could see Erica hissing to a few waiters in the corner as the band started up once more, filling the air with a nice background to all the murmuring.

Talia could be spotted through the crowd, her red gown making her stand out from the crowd, so Peter had plenty warning when she was approaching their group.

She hugged him tightly and Peter found himself returning the hug with just as much force, “thank you Talia,” he whispered, feeling strangely emotional.

Talia just laughed as she pulled away, “don’t sound so sad Peter! Just enjoy yourself tonight and we’ll call it even.”

Her eyes were dancing with humour as she glanced to the left of Peter, “Lydia,” she greeted her warmly, hugging Lydia as she had Peter, “it’s nice seeing you again.”

“It’s good seeing you too Alpha Hale.”

“Lydia,” Talia chided her gently, “how many times do I have to tell you to call me Talia.”

They both shared knowing smiles as they broke apart and Peter decided that he was better off not knowing what they got up to when he wasn’t around. 

Talia stepped to side of Lydia and let her gaze fall over the rest of the pack, Scott looked less frightened than the rest of them but only marginally.

He stepped forward to greet her and make the formal introductions. 

Talia made a point to hug them or shake their hands, she wasn’t trying to be Alpha Hale now, to them she was, and would always be, nothing more than just Peter’s sister, excited at the thought of meeting her brother’s girlfriends pack.

Most of the girls were comfortable with the hug, clearly taking to Talia quickly as Lydia had.

Alison actually blushed when Talia informed her that Chris always spoke highly of her and she was glad to finally meet her in person. 

Kira hugged Talia lightly, mumbling that it wasn’t fair that she was still gorgeous close up which had Talia throwing her head back laughing, and then announcing that she was keeping the kitsune.

Only Malia took the handshake but really, Peter had expected nothing less, Talia respected her for it just the same.

When Scott said Malia’s name Talia gave her a look over and the only sign she still didn’t recognise the young girl was a slightly frustrated crook to her eyebrow. 

Peter let out a sigh, Talia didn’t recognise her, which ruled out several possibilities and meant he was back to square one with this puzzle.

He ignored the suspicious glance Lydia threw him at the noise.

The introductions were over with and Talia smiled over at Scott, “you have a very nice pack Alpha McCall, we must all meet up sometime for lunch and we can get to know each other more.” She glanced back to the large crowd now milling around on the dance floor, “I’m sure I won’t have enough time tonight to get to know you all as well as I would like, let me know when you’re free and we can arrange something.”

Both Lydia and Scott nodded, “definitely.”

She smiled one last time and then backed away, heading towards Aaron who looked to be in a discussion with a member of the human council.

Alison let out a high pitched noise and did a little wiggle where she stood, “that was _awesome_.”

The tops of Kira’s cheeks were still tiger red but she also nodded along with Alison, “we _need_ to have that dinner soon.”

Lydia smiled and looked at Peter; she had one eyebrow raised as if she had just proved a point to him. He didn’t doubt that she had but he couldn’t remember what that point was right now.

The band started playing a new song, louder now and noticeable over the chatter and Talia and Aaron walked slowly to the middle of the dance floor, Aaron taking her by the hand and twirling her as they reached the centre.

The crowd tittered and a few other couples joined them for a dance while the rest looked on.

The song finished and most people clapped, Talia kissed Aaron on the cheek and left the dance floor, presumably off to greet all the guests she missed before.

Peter was stood to one side and was listening to Alison and Kira murmuring to each other, with Lydia and Scott chipping in every so often. They were talking about nothing in particular, just pointing out celebrities and commenting on the fashion.

They were far enough away from the main party that they were in no danger of being overheard, and it also meant that even though some people glanced their way, they hadn’t been approached just yet.

Surprisingly it was a petit blonde girl who seemed to have gathered her courage and approached them first, she was vaguely familiar but Peter couldn’t put a name to her face.

“Hello, Mr Hale? Mr Peter Hale?” She asked nervously, her hands were at her sides, but were trembling slightly, almost as if she was consciously making an effort to keep them relaxed. She couldn’t have been more than eighteen, if that.

“Yes?”

She let out a quick breath and let her eyes roam up and down his body. 

Peter felt a slight chill cross his body; he thought it was just a phantom feeling until he noticed that the blonde shiver as well.

He turned to Lydia and raised an eyebrow, she just shrugged and then turned her back on them, returning to the conversation her pack was having, and giving an illusion of privacy. They were a few paces away so to a human this would seem like a private conversation.

“Sorry,” she rushed out, glancing nervously to Peter’s right. “You won’t know me but you helped to save me and my younger sister’s life when we were kids.”

“How long ago was it?” Peter couldn’t remember many cases happening in Beacon Hills, and when they did they were usually memorable.

“About eight years ago? We were on holiday in Brazil and a mermaid tried to take us from the beach?” She looked at him with wide eyes, almost pleading with him to remember this.

He had no problem recalling this incident, he had found the two girls, Jennifer and Stephanie (if his memory was correct), shivering in a cave after dispatching the monster in question.

After returning them safely to their parents he had moved straight on, as he did for all cases, but he had received a letter from the youngest on his return to Beacon Hills, she had thanked him for everything and it even had a crude picture of both of the girls drawn at the bottom.

Peter smiled at her, “I do remember you, Jennifer is it?”

Her eyes widened in shock and she let out a startled laugh, “yes it is, but you can call me Jen.”

She took a step forward; Peter resisted his natural urge to retreat a step back at this, but only just.

“Well Jen, it’s very nice to meet you again.”

Peter didn’t really know what else he could say to this, he hoped that Jen would take a hint and leave him alone soon. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy seeing the good he brought to the world, but this was only the second time he’d seen it firsthand and still didn’t know how to react. It was just a bit of an awkward situation to be thrown into, and he would put good money on that even people with good social skills would feel out of place.

Maybe Erica could write a guide for me, he mused.

“It really is, and thank you so much for everything you did for my family; I wouldn’t be standing here without you.”

Her blue eyes darkened slightly and she took yet _another_ step forward, now she was in his personal space. Her hand was reaching out for him and Peter was only _slightly_ concerned at what she was trying to do.

She took his hand and seemed to move forward _yet again_.

“I really don’t know how I can thank you,” she practically purred, looking up at him from under her eyelashes.

There was a beat of silence as Peter became aware of the space surrounding him and then an awkward cough came from behind him, it sounded like Scott but he couldn’t be sure.

He was about to turn but then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

The flash of bright blue fabric gave away who it was almost immediately.

“Well sweetheart, you could start by keeping your hands to yourself,” Lydia said, voice sickly sweet.

Jen flushed and took a small step back, releasing Peter’s hand, “I didn’t mean-” she tried to stutter out.

“Oh I’m _sure_ you didn’t mean anything by it,” Lydia interrupted, “but you can take your gratitude and find someone else to pant over, my _soulmate_ and I are here to enjoy our party.”

Peter looked at Lydia in surprise, she’d never come across as a particularly jealous person, but now Peter supposed he just hadn’t had reason to see her this way. She was practically glowing with it, her confidence shone through and made her speech and movements swift and to the point. 

She looked Jen up and down, similar to how the blonde had appraised Peter earlier, only Lydia was quite clearly disgusted with what she found if the twist of her lips was anything to go by.

She took Peter’s hand as she finished looking Jen over, all he could do was stare at Lydia in awe. He’d never seen her as self assured and confident as she was now, at least not when she wasn’t working over an equation, and knowing it was her surety that Peter was hers and hers alone that was fuelling this was making him a little hot under the collar.

He could see Jen nod and then made an aborted movement, almost like she had _bowed_ to them.

 _“_ Yes, of course,” Peter could hear her mutter, “have a nice night and congratulations to you both.”

“Thank you,” Lydia replied coolly, clearly dismissing the blonde.

She nodded once more and took her leave, Lydia turned to him, “can you even believe the nerve of some of these people?” She asked him, “hitting on you at our own party.”

She looked him over with slightly narrowed eyes, “I suppose I can’t blame her, you do look handsome tonight, let hope I don’t have to fight anyone else off yeah? Although most people wouldn’t even think of…”

Peter just nodded slowly, watching as Lydia tossed her hair over her shoulders and then turned back to the rest of the pack.

“Honestly,” she muttered, reaching out and seeming to pluck a glass of champagne out of nowhere, “the nerve,” she took a sip and then tugged on his hand so they were once again stood with the safety of the pack.

Peter just swallowed and followed her.

 

*****

 

More people approached them throughout the night, most offering congratulations, some thanking him for the work he did and only a few earning themselves a chilling glare from Lydia when they stepped a little _too_ close to him.

He had originally thought the shiver inducing effect was completely psychological until he caught one of the glares himself and noticed how Lydia’s eyes had darkened until they were almost completely black. 

Peter made a mental note to look up the abilities and effects of banshees when he had a free second.

They stood to one side of the ballroom for the most of the night, Peter introducing the pack to people who seemed genuinely happy for him and were eager to know him now he had come out of his self inflicted solitary confinement. 

Chris Argent meandered across and gave his own congratulations to the couple, saying he should have known Peter and Lydia were soulmates the moment he saw them together.

Lydia was the one to ask what he meant.

He looked them over and then replied, “you two complement each other, I think you’ll find you will balance each other out, and after all that is what matters when it comes to soulmates.”

Stiles had joined their party by that time, smelling like he’d already had a few glasses of champagne too many, he inserted himself into the conversation by leaning on Peter’s shoulder, “because they’re both cutie pies who are ready to kill if it’s needed?”

There was a beat of silence before Chris smiled, “slightly different to how I would have phrased it but yes Stiles.”

Lydia laughed, “Thank you Mr Argent, I’m glad you approve.”

Chris smiled gently at the two, “of course I approve Lydia, there aren’t many people who could bring the Enforcer to heel after all.”

Peter felt his mouth drop into a pout at that, and he opened his mouth to argue that Lydia _hadn’t_ done anything of the sort, but Chris was saying his goodbyes and already waking away.

He turned to Lydia who was already holding in laughter at his face.

She looked like she was about to laugh outright so he pulled her by the hand and asked her for a dance.

She looked surprised for only a second then nodded, following him out to the middle of the dance floor. 

They stood close, Peter’s hand on her waist and Lydia’s forearms testing on his shoulders, their other hands joined to the side of them.

A slow song was playing so they just rocked slowly to the beat. Lydia was still shorter than him, even in her heels so he leant down and pressed a small kiss to her neck, she made a low noise and he stayed bent slightly for a moment longer, breathing her scent in. She threw her head back, baring her neck even more, Peter grinned against the soft skin there.

“Lydia,” he warned, dipping her slightly.

When he brought her back up she had mischief in her eyes, “what?” She asked him, batting her eyes in an impression of innocence.

He just chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead, trying to focus on the rhythm he was meant to be keeping to.

He could hear his sister laughing loudly at the side of the floor and he turned his head slightly, trying to seek her out.

Lydia took this as an opportunity to press a small open mouthed kiss of her own to his now exposed neck, at the pulse point just under his ear, an unmistakeable gesture of claiming to the Other’s in the room, and even most of the humans would get the message as well. Especially as he had just done the same to her moments ago.

It garnered the same reaction it always did in him, his eyes flashed bright blue and he could feel his heartbeat pounding in that spot.

Everyone knew Were’s wore their status in their eyes, Alphas were red, beta’s were a dazzling gold, and then there were the people with blue eyes. They were still betas, but they had a taken a life, generally the ones people shoes away from when they shifted. Nearly every Were Peter had hunted had bright blue eyes, and in returned they had cursed him with the same.

He could hear the muttering of the crowd that had turned to watch them, all commenting on his eyes, of what they meant, how he was a killer. They should have known, given his occupation, but some of these people had never seen this before or just hadn’t made the connection in their heads. He tuned the rest of the hall out, knowing that Lydia didn’t mind what colour his eyes were at all. 

He focused on her and felt her smile against his neck and pull back, resting her head on his shoulder and moving so they were practically cuddling stood up, still swaying to the music.

The song came to a close and Lydia and Peter stood apart, clapping politely. The next song was a little more upbeat and Peter could see Stiles and Derek walking out to dance as well, could see Kira dragging Scott and various other couples wandering out, hand in hand.

He was surprised to see Alison trying to convince Malia to dance, one of her hands was wrapped around Malia’s forearm and she was pulling her in the dance floor’s direction. In the end it look as though Malia won as she just sat back down and left Alison stood at the side of the floor on her own. 

Peter took one of Lydia’s hands and spun her neatly into his arms, her dress fanning out beautifully before settling down as he led her in a simple waltz to the music.

Peter was about to mention Alison needing a date to dance with when he spotted his sister walking over to her, her red dress flowing behind her as she approached the two women.

He could see, even from this distance that Malia had tensed up at whatever Talia had said in greeting.

He looked down at Lydia, her eyebrow was already raised in question, no doubt noticing his distracted state.

He spun them around, lifting Lydia slightly so she wasn’t tripped by the sudden moment, she could see the scene before them over his shoulder and she let out a quick breath. 

“Shit.”

He had noticed Malia growing tenser as the night went on, but he couldn’t tell why as she had also gone quieter, keeping her complaints to herself for once.

Peter led them closer to the edge of the floor, not close enough to overhear what the women were talking about over the music but close enough to get a better view. Malia was now stood up and Alison was stood slightly between the two, almost as if she knew there was bad blood between Malia and the Hales.

Lydia broke away from Peter and sent an apologetic look his way that he didn’t need to see, it was hardly her fault.

They both walked over to catch the end of Malia’s sentence, “I’m just a little tired, I might take my leave now.”

“Oh no Malia,” Alison said looking her over, “you can’t leave now, the party’s only just started!”

Malia looked at Alison up and down, and then said through gritted teeth, “I’m not feeling well.”

She looked over at Lydia with pleading eyes, eyes that practically screamed ‘sorry’, and then it was gone. Her eyes slid to Peter and they were cold and hateful once more.

Talia watched this through slightly narrowed eyes, “we have guest rooms if you need one, you can have a lie down and perhaps join us again later?”

Malia looked unhappy at this, like it was the last thing she expected to hear. Peter could practically see the wheels turning in her head, thinking of an escape route once again, “no I’m quite alright President Hale, I would only distract my pack from their night, I’ll just go now.”

She grabbed her small clutch from the table and started towards the large doors leading to the entrance hall.

They all followed her, Alison practically marching to keep up with her and Talia simply wandering behind, no doubt just an idle curiosity pulling her along as well.

Peter and Lydia were in the middle, Peter wasn’t sure he should follow at all but Lydia hadn’t let go of his hand and he didn’t think now was the time to draw attention to himself.

“Malia, wait,” Alison hissed once they were out in the quiet of the entrance hall. “ _Malia!_ ”

“Why?” She asked whirling around on Alison, “I _came_ , didn’t I? I was _civil_ , isn’t that enough?”

“Enough to simply turn up? Not even being bothered enough to celebrate your packmate finding her soulmate?” Talia asked, her voice carefully void of any emotion.

Peter hoped that Malia could read the situation well, that she wouldn’t try to start a fight with his sister in her own home. She was right before, she had been civil the rest of the night.

Unfortunately  it seemed Malia had filled her quota of polite conversation for the night, “celebrate what? My close friend being mated to a _murderer_? And now our pack has to welcome him with open arms despite everything he’s done? But oh no you’re right, let’s all stand around and talk about how _great_ he is and ignore the rest because he’s a _Hale_.” She practically spat the last word.

Peter saw Talia’s head move back slightly, as if she had been struck, then she leaned forward, fire in her eyes, “ _listen to me_ ,” she began, her Alpha power coating her words, she took a step forward but Peter moved to stand in her way.

“Sister,” he said quietly, “back down, this is not your fight.”

Talia’s lips twisted with undisguised anger, but then she met his eyes and saw the quiet pleading there, “okay,” she took a deep breath, “okay.” 

She took a step back and straightened her back, “I apologise for my behaviour,” she directed this towards the girls, two of which Peter could hear were breathing a little faster than usual, but that was the only sign of distress he could feel coming from behind him, “I hope the rest of your night goes well, and Malia,” she looked the younger girl in the eyes over Peter’s shoulder, but now her face was carefully neutral, “I hope you feel better soon.”

The entire group could see it for what it was, an apology and escape for her, Talia would keep Malia’s secret and agree that the younger girl had gone home ill if anyone happened to ask.

Talia turned and walked to the large double doors, heading back to the party, she stopped just on the threshold. “It might be an idea to get a small glass of water before you leave however, the kitchen will be empty now.”

She nodded to herself and returned to the party, Peter turned to look at the girls, Alison had an arm around Malia, almost like she had dove to stand with the girl when Talia had turned on them, probably understanding the gravity of the situation a little more than Malia did.

Malia had her head held down and was breathing quickly, Peter knew from personal experience what it was like having the full Alpha power of Talia used against you, and it wasn’t something you could just get over.

Lydia was stood to one side, her hands clenched into fists, almost as if she had decided to let that episode play out as long as she could bring herself to before intervening. Peter didn’t blame her, it wouldn’t have been easy on Lydia watching them fight, and it would have been even harder knowing she was the cause.

Peter broke the silence first, mouth working on autopilot, “my sister is right, we can get you a glass of water and then leave through the back door, no one will see or question us that way.”

Alison nodded and then tightened her grip on Malia, “lead the way.”

They started moving, Peter leading them down the corridor to the left of the stairs, his mind reeling with what Malia had said.

_Murderer._

People like to throw a lot of words at him, but they only used that word when he killed someone they were close to.

It was he used to think of himself before Talia had showed him all the letters from people he had saved, before she had made it her duty, every day, to make sure he knew he wasn’t a mindless killer. That he was on the good side.

He resisted the temptation to turn around and look at Malia, knowing she would still be shaken from her encounter with Talia.

Any Alpha could command someone, but it worked better if they were directly in their lack, of if they had a lot of members of their own pack. As Talia was the head of the supernatural world she had thousands of people who looked up to her as a leader, as an Alpha, she would undeniably have command over any Were’s instincts.

The girls were still quiet as he opened the door to the kitchen, only the rustling of fabric cut through the air.

Lydia walked over to a cupboard and started looking for glasses straight away and Alison helped Malia up into one of the countertops so she could sit down.

They all stood around in silence for a moment while Malia drank the water, still looking down and hiding her face; slowly her breathing went back to normal.

“Malia?” Peter asked quietly, “are you okay?”

She nodded stiffly and it was then that Peter caught her scent. Wet rage again, but this time there was the saltiness of tears.

He had the feeling that she had something to say to him and didn’t know how to ask what it is, luckily Lydia had also caught on, “Alison can you give us a second?”

Alison stopped stroking Malia’s hair and nodded, picking up her own clutch and walking to the door, “I’ll see you out there in a few.”

When the sound of her heels had faded away Malia spoke.

“I’m sorry Lydia,” her voice was thick with the tears, “I’m really sorry but I can’t do it anymore. I can’t sit around and play nice and pretend that... that he didn’t...”

Her voice faded and Malia choked on a sob, she lifted a shaking hand and wiped at her eyes.

“Forgive me for asking,” Peter said cautiously, Lydia’s head snapping around to him in surprise, “but what was it that I was meant to have done? I can cope with the quips, the cutting words and looks you send me when you think I’m not paying attention, but at least give me a chance to defend myself against whatever I have done.”

Malia raised her head and looked at him, her eyes were red from crying, “you _ruined_ my life.”

Her heartbeat was steady, she wasn’t lying. Her words were laced with surety, like the one truth she held onto was that Peter Hale, the Enforcer, a murderer, had torn her life in two.

“I...,” Peter didn’t know what to say.

“And I will not sit there and listen to all the people congratulating you, thanking you for the work you do, ignoring that the people you kill have families too, even if they do bad things it’s not always black and white.” Malia was still sat on the table but her voice wasn’t wavering anymore.

Peter didn’t have a defence for himself, “I... they all committed crimes again-”

“No,” she interrupted, “I’m not even talking about the people who died at your hands, I’m talking about the collateral, the people you don’t even think of, who don’t even get a mentioned in your report when you sign it and hand it in.”

Peter had no response to this, he still didn’t know what he was defending himself again, and he was feeling more and more defeated.

He’d forgotten that Lydia was still in the room and jumped when her hand slid into his.

Malia’s eyes followed the movement and he could see the hurt on her face, and then the decision in her eyes. He moved forward but she jumped off the counter and ran to the door, Peter dropped Lydia’s hand to follow her.

She made it to the back door before she stopped, fiddling with the lock quickly.

“Malia!” He called and heard Lydia do the same. 

He reached her as she managed to get the door open, he put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to ground her, but she turned and snarled at him, similar to the first time they had ever met. 

Only this time it stopped Peter in his tracks. This time her mouth was full with fangs and she had shifted, either in sadness or in anger but she had shifted. He quickly went back through every memory of Lydia’s pack, every interaction with Malia. 

He had never seen her shifted before.

She moved away and he let his hand fall from her shoulder and she ran off down the lawn, kicking her heels off as she did. 

She disappeared into the trees as Lydia caught up to them, she was asking him questions but he couldn’t hear her right now.

Malia’s eyes had shone bright blue, just like his.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it! Kudos and comments are absolute gold! <3


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